Pat Ryan: You have to treasure and savour these moments

Tomorrow’s clash with Clare will signal the start of Pat Ryan’s third championship campaign in charge of the Cork hurling team.

With experience comes familiarity, though there is no contempt for a role for which he remains grateful to hold.

“In our third year, we know exactly how we want to play and the players know the expectations that we have for them and what they have for each other.

“As regards anything else, you wouldn’t be in it if you didn’t get those nerves and that excitement of a championship week.

“The Munster championship is probably the best of all the provincial championships – obviously, Ulster football is very tight as well, they’re the top two championships in the GAA calendar year.

“It’s a hugely exciting thing to be involved in and that’s something that we try to express to the players, that these are great days to be involved in.

“Even going back to my own day, you might have one championship match and you’d be knocked out.

“The lads are putting in an awful lot of effort and you’re guaranteed four championship matches, which is a huge thing. You have to treasure and savour every one of those moments.”

Coming into the championship on the back of a successful Allianz HL campaign, Cork look to have a settled team but Ryan is well aware of quickly things can change.

Different players may suit different opponents, but equally Cork want to ensure that they are focusing on themselves.

“Nothing’s set in stone,” he says.

“Obviously, there are going to be ups and downs with every game you play – last year, we made six changes after the Waterford game!

“That’s what we’re at pains to say to the players, the first championship 15 probably won’t be the championship 15 by the time you get to the end of it.

“God forbid, injuries come into play and obviously form comes into play an awful lot. Our job is to concentrate on how we want to play – obviously, you’ll take into account what Clare are trying to do, and sometimes that’s very hard to negate, but you have to focus on yourself.

“With changing from Clare to Tipperary so quickly, and then on to Waterford, if you’re concentrating a lot on the opposition, you just get lost, chasing your tail.

“A lot of what we’ve done is about how we want to play and how we want to get our gameplan on to them.

“It’s something we’ve found hard to do previously against them, they’ve been very good at that. We’ve counter-acted a lot of their stuff as well but unfortunately they’ve been able to get over the line.

“That’s the job on Sunday.”