Ryan ‘Delighted And Honoured’ To Captain Home Club Enniscorthy

Alcast Park is far from unfamiliar territory for Ryan, and while he has been away for many years now, it remains the place where he learned to play rugby from the age of seven. He progressed all the way up to the Enniscorthy men’s team, winning a Provincial Towns Cup in 2012.

He left for Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division 1A club Clontarf a year later and his decade at Castle Avenue was littered with success. Returning to Enniscorthy had always been in the back of his mind and when wife Laura was expecting daughter Jess in May of this year, the plan to move back home really kicked into gear.

Speaking to IrishRugby.ie, Ryan explained: “My wife’s from Enniscorthy, we’re both from Enniscorthy. Living in Dublin for the last 13 or 14 years, I went to college in Dublin and so did she. We were expecting a baby back in May, and we were probably always going to move back down home at some stage.

“But the baby on the way probably progressed that a little bit faster, and I think that was ultimately the main decision. To be around family and that kind of thing. You need the support.

“I wouldn’t have been able to commit to Clontarf like I’d need to. If I was driving up and down, it just wouldn’t be fair on anyone. That was probably the main decision. It probably felt like I could’ve played on in terms of the body, might get another season or two out of it.

“It was also in the back of my mind, like, I started playing in Enniscorthy when I was seven and played all the underage grades, and then would have played a couple of seasons adult men’s. They were junior at the time, won the Town Cup.

“We were Junior 1A,  won the Towns Cup in 2012, and they were still junior when I left to go in 2013. They’ve had massive success over the last ten years between Towns Cup, All-Ireland Junior Cup and getting promoted from Junior 1A up to Division 2C, and then they got promoted from 2C to 2B two years ago, and been in 2C for the last couple of seasons.

They’ve had a lot of success, and a lot of my friends would play. I was obviously having good success with Clontarf in fairness over the last 10 years.

“A part of you sees your own club doing well and winning stuff and you’d be obviously delighted that they’re doing that. You’d like to be part of it as well. I don’t know if everyone feels the same, but I did anyway.

“It’s nice to finish out your career with your home club. Kind of was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to do that. It kind of really fell into place with us moving back, having the baby, and me still being able to play.”

Preparations for this season were very much different for Ryan. While you still go through the same build-up during pre-season, the venue very much changed. Having spent such a long time away from ‘Scorthy, the Leinster-capped back rower believes he lost that connection with the club.

It was more noticeable for him when Enniscorthy got promoted to the All-Ireland League in 2019, and their Division 2C fixtures would of course clash with Clontarf’s ones in the top flight.

However, since returning to Wexford this year, he has very much embraced that strong hometown connection again, especially when getting to play with your old friends and also having the honour of captaining the team.

“Like it definitely felt a bit weird the first day,” he admitted. “Clontarf is a home away from home also for me, because I was there for so long, and there’s great, great people (there) and we had great success.

“I suppose you’re from where you’re from, and I always have that connection with them. I love Enniscorthy. You kind of want to finish out with your home club. Like I suppose I probably lost a little bit of connection with the club over the last ten years because I was in Dublin.

“Especially the last few years as all the games clash, because they’ve been All-Ireland League. So you don’t get to as many games, you’re not part of the team. Enniscorthy is a special club as well and a lot of great people around there.

“And some of my best friends are still playing, so it was class, you know, to play with them again after ten or twelve years. It’s been brilliant to be back to be honest, the social thing and to reconnect with people around at home. It’s memories that you’ll make, and you’ll hold on to it.”

The 33-year-old added: “I had fairly little experience as captain. Only done (it) a couple of times in Clontarf, and I wasn’t expecting it from Enniscorthy to be honest.

“There’s a lot of lads there, older guys in the team that have been captain over the last few seasons who are still playing, but, like, it’s an honour to be able to do it, and I suppose maybe I was probably thinking, ‘oh, maybe I’ll never get to do it’, but I was delighted to be asked, and I’m delighted to do it.

“It’s a great group there. There’s lots of experience, the squad is a little bit older. There’s young lads coming through, but the main core, the players have been there for the last ten years. I’m just delighted to come back in and be able to hopefully add something. It’s great to be able to do it.”

On the field Enniscorthy have been doing quite well of late, winning their last four matches. Currently fifth in the table, just two points separate them from the play-off places, something that has been a regular occurrence in recent seasons playing in Division 2C.

Brett Igoe’s charges had to bounce back from a winless start across the first four rounds, though, and they were bottom of the league ladder before picking up their first win away to Bruff in late October.

‘Scorthy’s pre-season was hindered by GAA club commitments for a number of their players, and while they started their league campaign slowly, they remained very competitive in clashes with Belfast Harlequins and Midleton at home, and drew with Tullamore on the road.

Nonetheless, their recent successes against Bruff, Omagh Academicals, Clonmel and most recently Dolphin have given them a serious boost, and Ryan says they are hopeful of pushing on now and using those results to fuel a promotion bid.

“We had a slow start, because we battle with the GAA down here. There’s a lot of crossover between the team. We probably didn’t have the pre-season we wanted, you’re getting lads back here and there, and then they’re pulled away again because they’re in the knockout stage of GAA.

“That’s what we’re battling with down here. So I think we had a slow start, we were a little bit behind everyone else, but the last couple of months have been really enjoyable when you start to get the wins.

“There was a couple of games actually, initially, that probably got away from us. That I wouldn’t say should’ve won, but that we could’ve won.

“Belfast Harlequins at home in our first game, we were in the mix fairly late on. Midleton scored very late to beat us at home. And we were kind of progressing every game, you could see we were getting better.

Like we only had one pre-season game, bear in mind. That rustiness and timing and match fitness and stuff like that, no matter how good the pre-season you have on the pitch in terms of running and conditioning, you’re still going to be blowing come (the) match.

“The only way to fix that is play more matches. You could see we were progressing and that it was coming, and then we beat Bruff down there and that started it off. Clonmel away was a really good win for us, we beat Omagh at home and then Dolphin last weekend.

“The last two games were close, so good to see we were able to close those games out coming from behind. That’s what you’re playing for, the feeling you get when you actually win a few games. So, hopefully, we can still be in the mix now for the rest of the season.”

Ending the calendar year and beginning 2025 with the traditional back-to-back fixtures, Enniscorthy will play Monkstown on Saturday for the first time in the All-Ireland League. The clubs battled it out at junior level before, with Ryan having memories of taking on the south Dublin side.

Going into the Christmas break, Ryan does not want to be stewing on a loss over the festive period. He is looking forward to catching up with former Clontarf team-mate Cian O’Donoghue, who is part of the Monkstown squad but not on matchday duty for the round 9 encounter at Sydney Parade.

“Sometimes when you get on a losing streak, you just can’t buy a win. Heads could be down, confidence is low. And on the flip side of that, when you go on a winning streak, you know, confidence is high and everything seems to go your way,” he acknowledged.

“That’s what you’re chasing, you’re just chasing a bit of momentum that you can bring into the following week. We’re going have to sit on this performance now for the bones of a month. I’d like it to be sitting on a win rather than thinking about a loss over the Christmas period.

“The fixtures flip and we play Monkstown again in January. I think for us just with the slow start that we had, it’s just about momentum and we’re just chasing that top four. There’s still a long way to go in the season, but I think for us, it’s just (about) getting better.

“I know it’s clichéd as well, but it is just that getting better, getting a bit momentum, and see if we can get into those play-off spots.”

The Davidstown man recalled: “I do remember playing there (in Monkstown) myself when Enniscorthy were junior. They have come up to to AIL this year and are more than holding their own. I think it will be a tough game, only a point separating us in the table.

“I know Cian (O’Donoghue) who is playing with Monkstown. Would have been good team-mates in Clontarf for a good few years. Be good to come up against him for the first time, good to see him playing still.”

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