Player, coach, secretary, games manager, Tom Ryan has held many different roles for Na Fianna.
Now in his 70s, he cuts the grass and helps out with the facilities committee but it was a role he took on in 1990 that really changed the course of the club’s history.
It’s why he’s so regularly mentioned as one of the people who promoted a culture of hurling in Na Fianna, at a time when it wasn’t so popular.
Formed in 1955, Na Fianna began as a dual club fielding in both codes at senior level, but hurling began to fall away somewhere around the late 80s.
Ryan was one of six members of a sub-committee formed in 1990, with the aim of reviving hurling in Na Fianna.
They started by creating a nursery for young kids, beginning on a Saturday morning and growing from there.
Na Fianna contest this Sunday’s All-Ireland senior club hurling final with Cork outfit, Sarsfields. Sportsfile.
It’s taken patience and time but Ryan and his colleagues brought hurling to the same level as football in the club, with the Na Fianna hurlers contesting the All-Ireland senior club final this Sunday, against Cork outfit Sarsfields.
“Coming into the 90s, hurling had got very weak at juvenile level,” Ryan says.
“It got to that stage in the late 80s where there was nobody playing underage hurling in Na Fianna.
“Football was the done thing. There was very little emphasis being put on hurling.
“What happened was Donal Hickey, who was the development officer for the county board, a Na Fianna man, he put a motion forward at our convention to try to revive underage hurling.”
“Out of that, we set up a committee. Six of us met one particular evening in the club in 1990, with the intention of seeing what we could do to restart.
“We decided to start a nursery.”
“We canvassed local schools, nominated a particular Saturday to start…”
But it didn’t go as planned initially.
“It teemed rain the first Saturday, an absolute downpour and nobody turned up. We were rained off again then the second Saturday.
“After that, there was two weeks of easter holidays so it wasn’t a successful beginning.
“But after that, we started, and built it up from there.”
Ryan is a volunteer in Croke Park, giving tours in the museum and helping out as a steward on match-days.
He was recently welcomed into the Hall of Fame by the Friends of Dublin hurling, having also chaired the National Poc Fada committee.
His father is from Tipperary and his mother is from Limerick and he grew up to love hurling, passing his love to Na Fianna GAA club.
Though there were some struggles along the way.
Dublin and Na Fianna hurler Joey Boland in the 2011 All-Ireland semi-final. He and Tomás Brady were inspirational figures for many of the current team. Sportsfile.
“Our football nursery was in place from the year before and it was brilliant.
“But our main problem was to integrate with that, it took us a few years. We had to operate separately for a while.”
“Our hurling mini-Leagues began in 1990.
“We eventually got to the stage where we could piggy-back on the football one, putting the same lads playing hurling, with the same mentors. That was huge.
“Eventually, we got an under-9 team, an under-10 team the following year, got an under-11 team.
“Now it wasn’t easy. We’d be struggling to field teams at certain ages.
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“It took a while, because every young fella mightn’t play both.
“But there’s a great spirit and that remains among the hurlers of the current day.”
The Na Fianna hurlers competed at ‘C’ and then ‘B’ level at underage before the club reached its first minor ‘A’ hurling final in 2006.
Tom Ryan. Na Fianna.
The underage nursery of the late 90s was seen as a huge part of the success that followed, and has been held up as an example for clubs around the country.
“It eventually got to a stage where kids played both if they wanted to, which is the way it is now, and that’s brilliant.
“Then come minor, they can choose one if they want or they can stay playing both.
“They won’t be swayed either way. Whichever they like – we’ve three dual players now, Donal Ryan, Conor McHugh and Tom Brennan.”
“I took an under-11 team,” Ryan says, “we started off with eleven a side, because that’s all we had.
“The following year, we played under-12 at 13-a-side.
“Then we played under-14 at division four, won a Division Four Féile.
“We won an under-15 C championship the following year. Then we won an under-16 B.
Na Fianna dual player Conor McHugh, with manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin. Sportsfile.
“Two years later in 2006, we got to the minor A final, got hammered out the gate by Simon Lambert and Paul Ryan playing for Ballyboden.
“In 2007, Declan Feeney was looking after them, we were beaten in a replay by Kilmacud. Declan has been one of many great coaches over the years, Dermot Moran as well.
“In 2012, against all the odds, we got to a minor ‘A’ final and won it. Then we won four-in-a-row between ’14 and ’17. That’s where this team comes from.”
The backbone of the Na Fianna senior hurling team came from these five minor teams, such as Conor McHugh, Paul O’Dea, AJ Murphy, Colin Currie, Sean Ryan amongst others.
All the while, the population in the area grew as did the club’s membership, to the extent that they now field seven or eight teams at some underage grades – in both codes.
Finding space to cater for them all is the main issue, with ‘several hundred’ parents and coaches volunteering to help out.
“At different stages, almost all of the current team have coached the different underage teams.
“Back when these boys were growing up, Joey Boland and Tomás Brady were the superstars in the club from a hurling perspective.
“All of the kids knew them, with presentations, whatever.
“It’s the same way now with this bunch. Donal Ryan is one of the three dual players and he’s an idol to the small kids, having been the club’s GDO.”
“The most important thing about Sunday is that so many Na Fianna kids will be there.
“The kids are growing up seeing the Na Fianna senior hurling team on that stage, seeing them win county championships, travelling to Croke Park, hoping they can be there one day themselves.”
