Latest news with #Graigue-Ballycallan
The 42
04-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
'It's great because you can get caught up in hurling and nearly drive yourself demented'
LEINSTER HURLING SHOWDOWNS on the pitch dominated Billy Ryan's weekends from April to June, before he had to steel himself for the Monday morning interrogations. In St Patrick's De La Salle in Kilkenny where Ryan teaches second class, the pundits are straight talkers. In a school where Brian Cody is a former principal, hurling dominates the agenda. 'It's actually fantastic. If you play well on the Sunday, they'll bring you right back down. They'll humble you straight away. I love it. I genuinely love it. In fairness, the class I have as well, there's a lot of lads that love the hurling. 'We were playing Antrim up in Belfast this year and a few of them went up to it. The support has been absolutely immense for me and I'm truly grateful for it. I have great people around me and the community as well where I'm from in Ballycallan, it's so supportive. It's a great school, in fairness. I love going in every morning. It's definitely something I enjoy.' Amidst the demands of trying to win Leinster and getting himself set for big days like Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final with Tipperary, Ryan finds the day job a grounding experience. Advertisement 'It's great because you can get caught up in the hurling thing and you can nearly drive yourself demented with hurling and what not. I just find teaching is great in the way it resets you and you can divide the man from the player in a way when you're going back into the working environment. You're trying to be a role model for these children and show them the way of how to go about their day-to-day stuff.' Billy Ryan in action for Kilkenny. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO If there's a been a below-par display in Kilkenny colours, Ryan will be informed soon by his students. 'It's great. It brings you back down to earth. Look, children are children. They're so curious and fantastic in the way that they'll say it bluntly. They don't mean any harm in it. They just haven't learned the social skills yet. They're just speaking how it is. Sometimes it's actually a good thing.' Ryan trains the school hurling team and is dealing mostly with youngsters from city clubs James Stephens and O'Loughlin Gaels. His home club Graigue-Ballycallan is nearby on the western side of Kilkenny, hard up against the Tipperay border. The pulsating rivalry between the counties that spanned the 2009-19 period gripped his imagination. 'You had documentaries even being made about it, Sheedy versus Cody, they were incredible times. I was a young lad and you're immersed in that. It probably just drives a little bit of a hunger inside you when you're watching all of those.' He didn't have to look far for local heroes. 'I've been very, very lucky that I was immersed into a club in Graigue-Ballycallan that's steeped in history. So many really talented hurlers have gone through the club in years gone by. You look at John Hoyne, Eddie Brennan, James Ryall, we've been really, really lucky to have those lads. 'Being a forward, I suppose Eddie was the one I looked at and how I could model myself off his game. He was incredible. His hunger for goals and the way he was so fast, I tried to model myself off that. You had James Ryall there as well, I played with him for years with the club. He was absolutely immense for us as a club.' Ryan's personal form has spiked this year as he has tapped into a higher level of consistency – scoring 0-2 v Galway, 0-4 v Offaly, 2-3 v Dublin, and 0-3 v Galway in the Leinster final. Kilkenny's Billy Ryan celebrates after the Leinster hurling final. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO 'At the start of the year, you're looking at what you want to achieve when you're setting out your goals. Definitely one of them for me was trying to get after consistency. You're just trying to build consistency in little habits daily and trying to be consistent in training. It's definitely a thing as an athlete and a sportsperson that it's no secret you have to win the days and all that kind of stuff in order to become a better player. 'I'd be a big sports fan anyway. I'd have interest in the NFL, soccer and you're looking at those players and you're looking at what are they doing that's making them better and can I model myself off things they're doing.' His calm and composed nature has helped the 28-year-old approach these marquee championship days. Related Reads 'You can't let your own individual feelings manifest itself in being grumpy, being bitchy' I hurl, therefore I am: Dublin's quiet hurling manager tearing up the script 'We keep everything in the circle... everything outside it is just irrelevant to us' 'I'd be a calm person anyway. I've a very kind of relaxed, easy-going nature. It could be your downfall too. It depends who you ask. I would be very laid-back, yeah. My dad is very laid-back too. I didn't pick it off the floor, I obviously got it from him. 'But didn't Kobe Bryant have his alter ego as well? For me personally, it's nearly a thing where you have to flick a switch. And you can't be laid-back on a hurling pitch. You're going to get eaten up and you have to be ready for the challenge head on. I can guarantee you if you're marking a Niall O'Leary, just because he's here behind me, he's going to take you to the cleaners if you're going to be laid-back. You have to be fully focused.' 'I've a very kind of relaxed, easy-going nature anyway. *****
RTÉ News
18-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Ryan strike halts Dublin comeback as Kilkenny prevail
In an absolute roller coaster of a game that produced a stunning 48 scores, it all came down to one stunning strike from star man Billy Ryan to secure victory and passage through to the Leinster senior hurling final for defending champions, Kilkenny at UPMC Nowlan Park. On a day when the temperatures soared to the mid-twenties, the hurling absolutely sizzled as fortunes swayed one way and then the other, on several occasions actually. Then with 69 minutes showing on the clock, weary midfielder Jordan Molloy waltzed through the losers defence and off-loaded the sliotar to Ryan. The Graigue-Ballycallan man lashed the ball into the net from a tight angle and 12 metres on the right to more or less give Kilkenny the victory that shot them through to the final and rendered next weekend's outing away to Wexford a meaningless affair. On the other hand, Dublin entertain Galway in their last game, and it is all to play for with the winners going through to the final. The first half was a contrasting affair. Playing against the fresh breeze and all, the strong running Dubs dominated early on. However, once Kilkenny scored their opening goal in the 15th minute they bossed affairs. The star man early on was Dublin's Cian O'Sullivan, who flashed over three points during the opening five minutes. He wore the No. 11 jersey, but where exactly he played no one really knew. He was effective, very effective with his frightening pace and deadly accuracy hurting the Cats as he helped himself to five scores from play in this half. The scores were level four times during the opening 15 minutes, with Dublin making all the running. Then suddenly they were stopped in their tracks. A huge Kilkenny free from their own 40 by Cian Kenny rained down on the edge of the losers square, and when the defence failed to deal with it, Adrian Mullen flicked the breaking ball home from close range. A second goal, Kilkenny's fourth, also came from a high delivery that the visitors defence failed to deal with. Martin Keoghan put his name on this one following a clearance from full-back, Huw Lawlor. In between the Cats had goals from Billy Ryan after a quickly taken lineball and 1-2 involving Cian Kenny (18th minute) and T.J. Ryan (28th minute) after a defence splitting run by Ryan. This scoring rush carried the winners into a strong interval lead of 4-12 to 0-10, which was something after their early uncertainty. When the Cats opened the second half with back-to-back points from Jordan Molloy and T.J. Reid, the script appeared to be set. The Dubs didn't think so. A lovely goal from Sean Currie threw the Dubs a lifeline, although they were slow to grasp it. Passing the 45 minute mark they still trailed by 1-12 to 4-16 and things weren't looking too bright. During a crazy 10 minutes scoring spree Dublin nabbed 2-4, the big scores falling to the hugely effective Sean Currie (free) and the wonderful Cian O'Sullivan as they clawed the divide back to a single score, 4-16 to 3-16. The Cats were made sweat all the way home after that, until Ryan's golden late strike. They had a narrow escape in the 63rd minute when Dublin sub Ronan Hayes had a bullet-like drive turned out for a 65, which Currie turned into a point to cut the gap to 4-18 to 3-18. Later back-to-back points from Dublin sub Andrew Jamieson Murphy left a mere two points between the sides. Then up popped Billy Ryan to deliver the decisive score. Kilkenny: E Murphy; M Butler, H Lawlor, P Deegan; D Blanchfield, R Reid, M Carey; C Kenny, J Molloy (0-01); J Donnelly, B Ryan (2-03), S Donnelly (0-01); A Mullen (1-01), TJ Reid (1-09, 0-09f), M Keoghan (1-02). Subs: L Hogan (0-01) for Mullen (44); K Doyle (0-01) for C Kenny (inj, 47); F Mackessy for L Hogan (inj, 59); L Connellan for S Donnelly (70); T Walsh for Blanchfield (71). Dublin: E Gibbons; J Bellew, P Smyth, C McHugh; P Doyle, C Crummey (0-01), P Dunleavy; C Burke, C Donohoe (0-04); B Hayes, C O'Sullivan (1-05), D Power (0-01); S Currie (2-6, 1-04f), J Hetherton, C Currie. Subs: F Whitely (0-01) for P Dunleavy ht; R Hayes for C Currie ht; R McBride (0-01) for C Burke (48); A Jamieson Murphy (0-02) for D Power (64).
