Ryan hurls himself at Dublin's football cause

As the ground turned hard and the season's championship approached, Shane Ryan had to face up to the difficult decision which confronts all dual players attempting to combine both codes at senior intercounty level. Ryan had nailed down his place on the football and hurling panels, yet the feeling now was that he would have to concentrate on one or the other.

At 21, Ryan had so far managed to balance his time between the two games, filling key defensive positions in Tom Carr's football side and also covering the half forward line with the hurlers under Michael O'Grady. The managers had been considerate, compensating each other so that Ryan wasn't training seven days a week, but as the championship approached, something had to give.

"This year was different with the roundrobin hurling starting in Leinster for the first time," says Ryan. "So it was always going to be a lot more difficult to try to combine the two. Right now, I feel that football is where I want to concentrate and of course in Dublin it's the higher profile game, with a lot more championship matches on offer. But I'm definitely going to get back to hurling. It's not a final decision by any means."

The pressure to concentrate on football first emerged last year. Ryan had demonstrated his versatility as a defender by playing throughout the league in every outfield defensive position. He made his senior debut against Louth, and his omission from the team to face Meath in the Leinster final didn't pass without comment.

But hurling will always hold weight in his aspirations. His father played at senior level with Tipperary and his mother has three All-Ireland camogie medals with Dublin. And his first breakthrough in the county came with the hurlers as part of the minor team in 1996. Since then he has managed to juggle both codes, and last year he played under-21 hurling and football for both his county and his club, Naomh Mearnog. He showed similar commitment during his years at Dublin City University.

For now, however, football has sounded the greater calling. This year, he has settled into the right corner of the full back line, alongside Paddy Christie and Coman Goggins. Not that Ryan sees his role as exclusively limited to the corner: "You have forwards in almost every team these days moving around. So you just have to watch the space and go with them. The first game (against Kildare) was definitely a step up from Wexford and Westmeath but we know exactly what to expect now."

Tomorow's Leinster final replay with Kildare doesn't carry any significant pressure for Ryan. Overall, the team held up well in the drawn game and even though he admits that Dublin have been built up in the past only to under-perform, he says there is plenty of confidence within the team.

"There's no problem getting ourselves up for this game because it's still the biggest game of the year for us. We're just going to approach it in the same way and we've nothing to fear. Dublin needs another All-Ireland. We sense that from the supporters.

"I think the general feeling was disappointment after the drawn match because we had put in a great effort. But we had a get-together the day after and saw the video and it really was a case of either side being able to win it. Now we've just got to go out and try and do it all over again."

The man Ryan will mark tomorrow, Tadhg Fennin, is a fellow employee at Bank of Ireland. In fact, they both lined out together a few months back for the bank's football side. "Of course we shake hands before the game," says Ryan, "but then we just get on with it".