The Barrs-ista: Sam Ryan talks football and coffee

The race for the Andy Merrigan Cup is a more open one than usual.

With many big names gone from the battle for AIB All-Ireland Club SFC glory, only Kilcoo of Down and Roscommon’s St Brigid’s still remain standing among the clubs that have contested the final in the past decade.

St Finbarr’s are obviously not thinking that far ahead - they take on Éire Óg of Ennis in Sunday’s Munster semi-final at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh (3.30pm).

Barrs corner-back Sam Ryan is aware of the chat of how open the field has become, but the focus within the camp is more on keeping the journey going rather than looking at any destinations.

“I work in a coffee shop, so I hear it every day!” he laughs.

“It's anyone's game, but I think we're just going with the flow: we're just happy to be still training, we have meetings there every match with the sports psychologist, Stephanie Doherty, and we all kind of said that we just kind of want to still be playing football. We're not ready for it to finish.

“It's not really about going on and winning the All-Ireland, we just want to keep on coming out training, we want to keep on playing matches - sure we probably spend more time together than we spend with our families or anybody else.

“And we enjoy it; I don't think there's much other teams that have the kind of bond or brotherhood that we have.”

When Ryan (31) says he works in a coffee shop, he’s under-playing the situation. Having studied chemistry at UCC, he then worked for Janseen for around two years before a change of direction.

“It was always in my mind, my dream to have my own business, I suppose,” he says.

“I worked then in Three Fools in town for a year, to get experience - I said I'd see if I actually could work in a coffee shop before opening my own one.

“Everything just kind of lined up then where I was offered this [Sam’s Coffee, at the Barrs’ grounds in Togher] and I kind of just went with it. I always think that whatever it's going to put in front of you, you might as well just go with it.”

Two and a half years later, business is good - a second branch is about to open on Bandon Road.

“I can come in here at 7am some mornings and it's like an early-morning pub,” he says.

“It's after getting much bigger than I ever expected it to be. Like, I thought I'd be tipping away, just get a coffee, but no, there's a real sense of community.

“Even the [Barrs] lads come in here most days. It's just, like I said, we spend a lot of time together.”

And that bond is the one that is the strongest. While Ryan, by his own admission, isn’t a great watcher of football, his performances with the Barrs earned him a Cork call-up under Ronan McCarthy. While injuries didn’t help, ultimately he felt more comfortable in a blue jersey than a red one.

“I always wanted to play with the club,” he says.

“My last year would have been a bad one, where it was all Covid meetings and training on our own.

“I think then we went back into collective training and I just called it up after that.

“You just weigh up your options - I wasn't getting what I wanted from it. It all came back to the Blues, then.”

Both parties have benefited and they will hope that there can be more success.