Ryan to stick with hurling

THE END of one particular era of Dublin football is now complete following Shane Ryan’s decision to divert his attention back to hurling for the remainder of his intercounty career.

Along with Ciarán Whelan, Ryan was typically first-choice midfielder from 2005, when Dublin won the first of the five-in-a-row Leinster titles, up until this summer, when along with Whelan he suddenly found himself relegated to the substitutes bench.

Last month, Whelan confirmed his decision to retire and yesterday Ryan announced that he too would be retiring from the Dublin senior football panel – but that he did still wish to play some role with the Dublin hurlers in 2010.

In the early part of his career he managed to play both codes, before concentrating solely on football from the 2001 championship onwards.

Having just turned 31 he may not be the hurler he once was, but Ryan is hopeful he can still contribute in some way.

Dublin hurling manager Anthony Daly has already indicated that he would be prepared to give some former Dublin dual players another crack at hurling, if they were prepared to make the necessary commitments.

At the weekend, Ryan informed Dublin football manager Pat Gilroy of his intentions to drop football entirely in favour of one last crack at hurling, and then attended a meeting of the hurling panel on Monday night.

It remains to be seen whether Ryan does actually make it back onto the hurling panel, but he was determined to give it a go.

“It was a case of now or never,” he explained. “I don’t want to finish my intercounty career without giving hurling a right go.

“To be honest it’s something that I have thought about most years since I have been involved at intercounty level.”

Ryan has already been back playing hurling for his club Naomh Mearnóg in recent weeks, having decided to concentrate solely on football eight years ago.

His last appearance for the Dublin hurlers was in 2001, in the National League relegation play-off against Antrim in Parnell Park.

Since then he has won six Leinster football titles and one All Star, as recently as 2008.

Ryan firmly established himself as one half of the midfield pairing along with Whelan in 2005, when Dublin began their run of Leinster titles, but then this year, under Gilroy, he found himself losing out to the new midfield partnership of Ross McConnell and Darren Magee.

There is talk of Conal Keaney also returning to hurling next summer, perhaps combining it with football, but no decision on that is likely to be made until after his run in the Dublin club championship with Ballyboden St Enda’s.

Meanwhile, the GAA have confirmed that the 2009 hurling All Stars will be announced tomorrow afternoon, following the last selection meeting, with the football equivalent being announced live at the All Star banquet on Friday evening.