IT WAS a year of ups and downs for Joe Ryan in his first season as Carbery hurling boss.
The recent loss against Muskerry in the divisional/college section of the senior hurling championship signalled the end of Carbery’s campaign but their win over Carrigdhoun is, at least, one victory to build on.
The division’s hurlers played three games – they lost to Avondhu (1-24 to 2-13), bounced back to beat Carrigdhoun (2-20 to 1-22) and were knocked out by Muskerry (3-21 to 1-14).
Ballinascarthy clubman Ryan and his backroom team of Fergal Keohane and Kevin McCarthy worked hard this season and the players responded.
‘The reaction from the players and the commitment was never in question, even for the lads that may have been caught for a few sessions. They were always in contact with me, Fergal or Kevin,’ Ryan said.
‘It becomes tricky when clubs are week-on, week-off with their own leagues. I know for ourselves being in Division 7 of the county league was quite important for us and therefore we took it seriously. It is hard to fit everything in.’
Reflecting on the 3-21 to 1-14 semi-final loss to Muskerry, the damage was done in the first half. Carbery trailed 2-13 to 0-6 at the break, and there was no way back.
‘The lads were gutted at half time. Nobody goes out to start the way we started. It just shows the character of the lads that are there that they put in a better performance in the second half,’ Ryan said.
It was an honour for Ballinascarthy native Ryan to take the reins of the Carbery hurlers this season. It wasn’t all plain sailing, however.
‘It’s challenging. We tried meeting up for training on Wednesday night, we tried Monday nights, it’s really hard to get a balance. Ideally, we wanted a few games, we had one game organised before the championship that fell through and another one fell through quite quickly as well,’ Ryan admitted.
‘I think games are what they need rather than training, they’re training enough as it is. I don’t know how it can be run differently in terms of the divisional set-up. They’re trying to fit it in amongst the end of the league campaign for a lot of clubs. Then of course, the leagues are intense and then there are players on holidays to factor in.’
The Carbery hurlers will be back again next season when they will have another crack off the county college and divisional section. For Ryan though, he switches his focus to the club championship starting in August.
He is in charge of the Ballinascarthy hurling team chasing the three-in-a-row in Carbery, while it’s also the chance to keep an eye on potential Carbery players for the 2024 campaign.
‘I haven’t really given much thought towards next year because now you’re focusing on the club championship,’ Ryan said.
‘If a club made contact saying “this fella is going well, we have a good minor player”, we’d look at everyone. Look at Peter Collins of Randal Óg, Shane Murnane of St Colum’s, Darren O’Donovan of St Mary’s, obviously a few lads from Bal, Eoin Ryan from Clonakilty came along for the last few games and did very well.
‘Speaking from my own experience, the Carbery junior A hurling championship has a lot to offer and there are very competitive games. We want players to want to play for Carbery. I’m not interested in chasing lads. I’d be open to anyone to play.’
