KILDARE are in Croke Park this weekend for a Christy Ring Cup final meeting with Down, and if circumstances had been different Richie Ryan would have been spear-heading their attack.

Instead the Limerick native will be there in Donegal colours for the Nicky Rackard final against Mayo after his hurling journey took him on another adventure.

The Ahane native is a Guard and, as a result, is often stationed in various parts of the country. Previously he had been sent to Kildare and after transferring to Naas from his home club, he donned the Lilywhite jersey.

Donegal was his next move – helped by the fact his partner resides there – and after playing for Dungloe in this year’s Junior Championship, he joined Mickey McCann’s squad just prior to the start of the Nicky Rackard campaign.

His addition has been crucial to Donegal’s progress to Sunday’s final meeting with the Connacht side at Croke Park.

He came off the bench and scored a crucial goal on his debut as they edged out Longford by two points in the first round, and he has since started in the victories over Armagh and Tyrone and helped himself to another 1-1.

“I am originally from Limerick,” he said. “I got stationed in Kildare for the last five years and I am only after getting stationed up here. Herself is from Donegal and that would have been the draw.

“I was hurling with Kildare for a few years and I was hurling with Naas. Now I’m with Dungloe and with Donegal.

“I would have kept an eye on Donegal over the years. I would have known they were up in the Christy Ring and things like that. It’s a credit that a county with so few clubs can produce a county team that is able to compete with counties that have access to far more clubs.

“Donegal have great variety in attack, if one man gets held up on a certain day then there is always someone else who can step up to the mark. We have been lucky because someone else has been doing it every match.”

The Tir Chonaill men were one of the pre-tournament favourites, but Longford really did give them a scare on their home patch in their first outing.

They were impressive in a 10-point win over Armagh before finishing strongly to defeat Tyrone by the same margin in last week’s semi-final.
Ryan knows that they must produce their best in the last to secure the county’s third title in this competition.

“I made my debut against Longford in the first round of the championship, I only joined the panel the week before.
“It was a tough start. Everyone was back getting started after such a long break and teams hadn’t been together and were going straight into a championship game. You couldn’t expect them to be in top form.

“Longford were good. I have played against them a few times over the years and they were always tough to beat.
“We got over Armagh and then we had a tough game with Tyrone, it could have gone either way.

“We kept driving it on and got over them in the end, but it was tight for 40 minutes. They had real dangermen. It was great preparation for the final.”

Awaiting at Croke Park are a Mayo side that has competed at Christy Ring level for eight of the last 10 years.

“Mayo, they’d be well up there with the likes of Kildare and would be pushing for a Christy Ring,” Ryan continued.
“I would have played against them with Kildare and they were very good. It shows how little there is between the teams in the two competitions.

“They are a fine side and hopefully we can bring out best on the day and see where it takes us.
“I hope the Kildare lads can do the job as well, obviously.”

Ryan’s arrival to the north-west coincided with a special season for the Dungloe club as they fielded a senior hurling team for the first time.
They earned a semi-final win over Setanta B in the Junior Hurling Championship before losing out to Carndonagh by two points in the final.

“It was brilliant, there is a great interest up here in Dungloe and huge effort put into it,” said Ryan.
“It’s the first year ever with an adult team and we were unlucky on the day in the final but it sets up well for next year.”

By Niall McCoy