Among Michael Ryan's earliest memories is of wanting to be his older brother. They would puc around the homeplace from when Michael could scarcely walk. And always, John would blind him with a backyard turn of scorcery, leaving him wishing.

"John was always excellent . . . I think he got all the skill in our house," reflected Ryan from his workplace earlier this week. Upperchurch Drumbane, real Tipperary heartland, is doused in parochial tradition and it was against this background that Michael Ryan fostered hopes of playing for his county. John, though, caught eyes initially, winning an All-Ireland minor medal in 1982.

"You know, I got on the county minor team in my time as well but I honestly believe that it wasn't what I had done, more that people were aware I was John's brother. I was limited enough to be honest, no great skill. But I was determined, which compensated. Still does, I suppose."

Ryan is so steadfastly modest about his own ability that it is tempting to believe that if he had anything to do with it, he would never have seen Croke Park and would have journeyed through a career playing in the more obscure divisions of the local leagues. His manager, Len Gaynor, offers a more realistic appraisal.

"Michael Ryan is a powerful hurler, very mobile, a real team lifter. There is a real skill factor to his game, you know, he has a great strike of a ball and has a good hand," he says.

Gaynor highlighted his faith in the defender by listing him at full back for Sunday's match against Waterford, something of a new departure for a player who virtually had turbary rights to the Tipperary corner back spot.

"You know, I have been hearing about our problems at full back every year for as long as I can remember, that we are weak in that position. Maybe the people who write those stories would feel differently if they came down and marked us for an hour or so. Certainly it will be an adjustment but one I feel confident about making," he says, definitively closing the debate.

He feels he came of age at a perfect time in Tipperary hurling lore. In 1989 he stood behind the wire in the Canal End when Richie Stakelum captained the county to their first All-Ireland since 1971 and played on the team which captured an All-Ireland Under-21 title that same year. Babs Keating gave him a call that October.

"That was just fantastic for me, unbelievable, to get called up like that at the age of 19. Babs gave the county such an indescribable lift back then. As well as having a great hurling brain, he initiated a lot of the stuff that is taken for granted now. Like expenses, which used to be a pittance and maybe the occasional team breaks. He was instrumental in setting up the supporters' clubs. Just a force in himself."

Ryan still recalls the explosive resurgence in hurling at underage level in the aftermath of that seminal year. Every Tipperary kid wore blue and gold jerseys, most of them embroidered with Nicky English's number.

"There was always kids hurling but I'd imagine Tipperary were worried about the pull of soccer then. My own earliest sporting memory is the thrill of being allowed to stay up for Match of the Day, I can still hear the music. Tipperary hadn't known success in so long, I suppose the whole country was glad for us. They might feel differently now though," he laughs.

Tipperary had engineered an irresistible momentum then and although the core of an ageing Cork team rattled Galway to win one last All-Ireland, Tipperary were stronger than ever in 1991. Ryan, hardly out of his teens, could but contain his wonderment.

"Ah, that year was just fantastic. We had so many great games and then to win the All-Ireland was something I won't forget."

He was introduced as a substitute early in the campaign and proved himself indispensable as a defender.

Or, to put his own spin on things, he "got in after a few other lads got injured. A bit of luck, really. Managed to hold on after that."

And so he has been comfortably clinging for seven dry seasons, broken by a single Munster title in 1993. The promise of a dynasty has long since withered in the light of Clare's jubilant, blazing reemergence. He still shakes his head as he considers being beaten twice in one summer by Ger Loughnane's men.

"I remember us training for the next game a few days after the Munster Final and I thought, this is weird. After the match, the reaction was, well, we are out, beaten. Eventually, we got around to seeing that we owed it to give it our all and you know, had Johnny Leahy's shot not been met with a great save, we might well be champions now. But Clare were the team of last year and deserved both Munster and the All-Ireland."

Tipperary have silenced Waterford repeatedly throughout this decade, something their latest full back bears in mind. Talk of Munster finals is all very well but his mind won't stray past Sunday and bottling up Waterford's Billy O'Sullivan. Micheal Ryan has never for a moment taken himself for granted and always he has afforded a similar courtesy to other players. The charity though, ends there.