Declan Ryan

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Declan Ryan

Personal information
Sport	Hurling
Irish Name	Déaglán Ó Riain
Full name	Declan Ryan
Date of Birth	1968
Place of birth	Cashel, County Tipperary
Club information
Club	Clonoulty-Rossmore
Position	Half-forward
Club(s)*
Club	Years	Apps (scores)
Inter County
County	Tipperary
Position	Centre-forward
Inter County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Tipperary	1988-2001
Inter County Titles
Munster Titles	5
All-Ireland	3
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of .

Declan Ryan (born 1968) is a former Irish sportsperson. He played senior hurling with the Tipperary inter-county team from 1988 until 2001. Ryan is regarded as one of Tipperary’s greatest-ever players and is one of only a handful of players to have won senior All-Ireland medals in three different decades.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Playing career 2.1 Club 2.2 Minor & under-21 2.3 Senior 3 Teams

[edit] Early life

Declan Ryan was born just outside Cashel, County Tipperary in 1968. He was educated locally and from a young age he showed a great interest in the game of hurling.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club

Ryan played his club hurling with his local Clonoulty-Rossmore club. He enjoyed some success at underage levels, however, in 1989 he captured his first senior county championship medal. It was the club’s first county title in 101 years. In 1997 Ryan won a second county medal with the club.

[edit] Minor & under-21

In the mid-1980s Ryan joined the Tipperary minor hurling team. In 1986 his inter-county career nearly ended before it began in a Munster minor championship game against Cork. Ryan, while lying on the ground, was struck in the face by a wild pull and received multiple stitches. He returned in 1989 and captained Tipp to both Munster and All-Ireland honours at under-21 level.

[edit] Senior

By this stage Ryan was already a key feature on the Tipperary senior panel winning his first National Hurling League and Munster medals in 1988. Tipperary later lost the All-Ireland final to Galway, however, Ryan’s performance in the championship earned him his first All-Star award. In 1989 Ryan captured a second consecutive Munster medal. This was later converted into his first senior All-Ireland medal following a final victory over Antrim.

Two years later in 1991 Ryan captured a third provincial medal before later winning his second All-Ireland medal following a win over Kilkenny. In 1993 he won his fourth Munster medal, however, Tipperary were later beaten by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. Ryan added a second National League medal to his collection in 1994. Three years later in 1997 Tipperary lost to Clare in the Munster final in the first year of the ‘back-door system’, however, Tipp later qualified to play Clare again in the first-ever All-Munster All-Ireland final. Unfortunately Ryan ended up on the losing side once again. In spite of this he was presented with a second All-Star award.

In 1999 Leahy won his third National League medal, however, further championship success still eluded Tipp. All this changed in 2001 when Ryan’s former teammate, Nicky English, took over as manager of the senior inter-county team. Ryan began the year by winning a fourth National League title, before later winning a fifth Munster medal. Ryan later played a key role when Tipp defeated Galway to win the All-Ireland title for the first time in a decade. In winning a third All-Ireland medal he became one of only a handful of players to have won All-Ireland medals in three different decades. Following this victory Ryan retired from inter-county hurling.

Preceded by Bobby Ryan	Tipperary Senior Hurling Captain 1990	Succeeded by Declan Carr
Preceded by Conor Gleeson	Tipperary Senior Hurling Captain 1998	Succeeded by Tommy Dunne

[edit] Teams

	Tipperary - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1989 (23rd title)
1 K. Hogan | 2 J. Heffernan | 3 C. O'Donovan | 4 Noel Sheehy | 5 Conal Bonnar | 6 B. Ryan (Capt.) | 7 J. Kennedy | 8 Colm Bonnar | 9 D. Carr | 10 J. Leahy | 11 D. Ryan | 12 M. Cleary | 13 P. Fox | 14 Cormac Bonnar | 15 N. English | Subs: J. Hayes | D. O'Connell | A. Ryan | Manager: M 'Babs' Keating |

	Tipperary - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1991 (24th title)
1 K. Hogan | 2 P. Delaney | 3 N. Sheehy | 4 M. Ryan | 5 Colm Bonnar | 6 B. Ryan | 7 Conal Bonnar | 8 D. Carr (Capt.) | 9 A. Ryan | 10 M. Cleary | 11 D. Ryan | 12 J. Leahy | 13 P. Fox | 14 Cormac Bonnar | 15 N. English | Subs: C. Stakelum | D. O'Connell | Manager: M 'Babs' Keating |

	Tipperary - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 2001 (25th title)
1 B. Cummins | 2 T. Costello | 3 P. Maher | 4 P. Ormonde | 5 É. Corcoran | 6 D. Kennedy | 7 P. Kelly | 8 E. Enright | 9 T. Dunne | 10 M. O'Leary | 11 J. Carroll | 12 E. Kelly | 13 E. O'Neill | 14 D. Ryan | 15 L. Corbett | Manager: N. English |