Billy Ryan is doing all he can to make this Kilkenny’s year. One of the follow-up generation that arrived too late for the county’s most recent All-Ireland 10 years ago, he has been a regular feature for the team, playing in the forwards but without attracting too much individual attention.
True, he scored an All-Ireland final goal in the 2022 decider when Kilkenny ran the all-powerful Limerick to two points. Last year, in a match that probably still haunts the Cats, he again struck for goal.
On that occasion, this weekend 12 months ago, it was a sharp piece of opportunism to put his side six up against Clare and apparently on course for a third successive All-Ireland final. That’s not how it turned out, of course, and Kilkenny’s conquerors went on to claim Liam MacCarthy.
This season, Kilkenny have landed a sixth successive Leinster crown. They get another crack at returning to the big day when they face Tipperary in Sunday’s semi-final.
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Ryan has been in fine form. He was rested for the dead rubber against Wexford but has featured in all of the other games on the march to this point.
“It’s probably just basics really,” he told a promotional media event. “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.”
This year, his championship average is 3.6 points, a significant increase on a career figure of 1.46. The best day was the Leinster round-robin against Dublin in May when he helped the team hold off a determined comeback and finished with 2-3 and the man-of-the-match award.
It is thought locally that Ryan, who has played in the last six All-Ireland semi-finals, is benefiting from greater self-belief.
“He certainly found great confidence this year,” is one view. “And he has a keen eye for goal. When he gets the ball, he’s a kind of a ‘head down and go for it’ type of forward. He has pace and the bravery to take on opponents. That has gone very well this year for Kilkenny. He’s certainly in All Stars conversations, for a nomination anyway, and maybe more with potentially two matches left.”
If there is a downside to a provincial six-in-a-row, it is that none of those titles were followed up with the biggest of them all.
“We’re happy with how the Leinster final went and we’ve got another one under our belt,” said Ryan. “But you nearly feel straight away afterwards that the momentum shifts to an All-Ireland semi-final and trying to get back to a final and hopefully winning that.
“Losing those finals to Limerick in the two years (2022 and 2023), I feel like a lot of us have learned from it and came on as people and as hurlers because of it.”
He says that his call-up to the seniors was unusual in that it came midsummer after a good under-21 campaign in 2017. Another aspect of his call-up that he still remembers is Michael Fennelly, who was retiring and leaving the group chat. Fennelly told them all: “Don’t wait – take your chance when it’s there."
Ryan may have been a little slow in doing that as someone whose championship debut came in 2018, but he has never lost sight of taking that chance and trying to improve every year.
“We’re trying to build all these tiny little habits that will ultimately end up stacking and try to get us over the line for this year’s championship.”
He is a teacher in St Patrick’s De La Salle in Kilkenny, the same school where his first county manager, Brian Cody, was principal, although their careers didn’t overlap. Ryan, who also trains teams in St Patrick’s, says interactions with pupils help ease out the stress of intercounty hurling.
“It’s great because you can get caught up in the whole thing and 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.”
He turns 29 after the All-Ireland final and appears aware that it’s high time Fennelly’s “chances” were taken.
“I am one of the older members of the squad now . . . You’re trying to show lads the way and you’re trying to lead with actions on the pitch more so than your motivational speeches. I’d probably try to home in on showing it through actions. It’s important.”
