WE WERE all stopped in our tracks when the cameras cut to an emotional Pat Ryan at the end of Saturday’s Munster SHC final at the Gaelic Grounds.
Having been sent back to Cork with their tails between their legs 20 days earlier, Ryan’s Rebels delivered on the big day.
He was understandably overcome immediately after the penalty shoot-out[/caption]
They weren’t given a prayer ahead of their return to the Limerick lions’ den.
After 90 minutes of madness, where the teams were level no fewer than 17 times, the Rebels prevailed, winning the penalty shootout 3-2.
The debate will rage about whether big games should be decided on the spot but Ryan’s emotions put everything into perspective.
Sport can provide comfort in grief but can also add to the heartache.
Why the Cork manager was so visibly upset did not need to be stated.
Robert Downey paid tribute to the man who steered them home in the darkest of times for the Cork manager’s family.
The Rebels captain said: “I don’t think he realises how much we love him. But on days like these, I’m going to tell him. Pat, we love you to bits.”
Ryan lost his brother Ray suddenly just 11 weeks before Saturday night’s win. He was 43.
The former Cork and Sarsfields hurler would have revelled in Saturday’s joyous scenes. It’s hard to fathom what the Ryan family have been through but hurling undoubtedly gave them hope.
Five days after the passing of Ray, Ryan was on the line when the Rebels beat Kilkenny in Division 1A of the NHL. Duty called.
Before throw-in, the entire panel and backroom team lined up across the 45 for a minute’s tribute to Ray.
Pat was in among them, wearing a black armband.
Maybe behind Taoiseach Micheál Martin — and only just — Ryan has the most important job in his county.
How he has navigated that in his time of despair is a measure of the man. His players would dearly love to land Liam MacCarthy for him.
He is not the first and won’t be the last GAA man to keep the fire burning with a broken heart.
HARTE EXAMPLE
The morning after Tyrone lost the 2018 All-Ireland SFC final to Dublin, the Red Hand faithful wanted answers.
Had they been too defensive against the Sky Blues? Why did they let Jim Gavin’s men get the better of their blanket defence and blow them away at Croke Park?
Mickey Harte sat down with the media and braced himself for those questions.
One of his answers provided a stark reminder of how small sport is in the greater scheme of things.
Harte’s daughter Michaela was murdered while on honeymoon in Mauritius in January 2011. No one has been convicted over her death.
That morning, Harte said: “There’s many worse things you can wake up to on a Monday morning.
“Think about that, that people have to wake up to those things, things that are more permanent — loss or hurt.
“I’ll think about their hurt and loss as football people and fanatics. I appreciate that and empathise with it, but I’d ask them to think about how people wake up to something that can never be the same again.
“There’s never another chance to get back to where you’d have liked to be.
“And then they’ll begin to understand that while it may be life and death in words, in real terms it’s not. There are things that are more important than that.
“I would’ve probably been more heartbroken about this if life had been different in our case.
“But the fact that I know something that’s much, much worse and never could be compared to this, then I feel hurt about this, but it’s not like the real hurt of loss.”
BLAME GAME
We all do it. We blame managers, players and whoever else when things go wrong on big days.
But we never truly know what people are going through.
Later this summer, Liam MacCarthy and Sam Maguire will be paraded through towns and villages in two lucky counties.
But away from the schools and the town squares, the trophies will be taken to final resting places too.
Loved ones are remembered and missed in victory and in defeat.
Hopefully Saturday night gave Pat Ryan and his family something to smile about.
