Pat Ryan has earned the right to take time on decision over future

It was a surprise on Tuesday of last week to see news reports that suggested that a double re-appointment was on the cards at that night’s Cork County Board meeting.

While John Cleary staying on as football manager had been revealed by Barry O’Mahony in The Echo in late July, there had been nothing of substance with regard to the hurling job.

Of course, there had been plenty without substance; in keeping with the nonsensical rumours of something like a Bellator UFC bout taking place at half-time in the All-Ireland final, there was talk that Pat Ryan was definitely staying on, with or without backroom changes, as well as gossip that he had decided to walk away and Ben O’Connor was about to be appointed.

Quite why any news reporters decided that any of the swirling chatter equated to an announcement at the board meeting is a matter of curiosity.

Barring a dramatic turn of events early last week, there was never going to be any development at the meeting – though, given that two hours were spent on the topic of ‘independent teams’ (i.e. amalgamations between clubs), those present may have wished there was more to get their teeth into.

Cork's Brian Hayes after the defeat to Tipperary in the All-Ireland SHC final at Croke Park in July. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

In terms of Pat Ryan’s future, no news is simply no news – a decision has yet to be made and that is eminently understandable.

In a normal year, taking a month to decompress and ruminate would not be anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for Pat, this year has been such that losing the All-Ireland final was nowhere near the worst thing to happen to him.

The trajectory over the course of his three-year term in charge is undeniably upwards – failure to qualify from the Munster SHC group, reaching an All-Ireland final and then reaching an All-Ireland final having won the Allianz HL and Munster SHC.

We’re not going to re-litigate the 16-point defeat to Tipperary here; nothing can be said to change what happened and, by this stage, everyone has their own view on why everything happened as it did so it’s unlikely that perceptions could be shaken.

But, whatever your take, there is a subsequent debate to be had as to whether one bad half of hurling – or even less, given that Cork still led with 25 minutes remaining – should outweigh everything else.

Obviously, the case can be made that it was the most important half of the year and that, given the position Cork were in at half-time, anything other than a victory was a major failure.

It’s not an excuse but a fact to say that Cork are poor at playing with 14 against 15 – the final was the fourth such instance across the 2024 and 2025 championships and they lost three and drew one.

The draw was of course the championship opener in Ennis in April and they led by nine points when the red card was shown to Shane Barrett; against Tipp, they were outscored by nine points in the period after Darragh McCarthy’s penalty in the wake of Eoin Downey’s red.

A contrast between the celebrations of Cork fans and the dejection of Limerick players after the Munster SHC final at TUS Gaelic Grounds. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Even then, it wasn’t Cork’s heaviest loss of the championship – that came away to Limerick in May. Leaving Shannonside that day, the idea of turning things around seemed a pipe-dream and the Treatymen looked unbeatable, but they didn’t win any of their three subsequent games in the championship.

Teams have off-days, but it doesn’t make them bad teams. For long enough, we heard that Cork needed to win the league and/or Munster, silverware providing tangible signs of progress.

That happened but, such is the nature of sport and sports coverage that it’s always on to the next thing and, unless you win the All-Ireland, your year is likely to end with a loss and the navel-gazing that follows.

There will be some noise that a manager should be in place so as to assess players in the county championships but, if a player is shooting the lights out in early August, he will still be doing so in October if he really is a prospect for bigger things. The days of would-be stars falling through the cracks are long gone.

Pat Ryan deserves to make the call himself and he deserves the time and space to think about it properly.

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