Cork Boss Ryan Reveals Drink Message To Clare Dressing Room After All-Ireland Heartbreak

For Cork and Pat Ryan, the big goal in this weekend's All-Ireland final is to banish the ghosts of last year's decider defeat to Clare.

The Rebels go into this weekend's final as hot favourites against Tipperary, and the memories of last year's heartbreak will no doubt be fresh in the mind of Ryan's team.

Having vanquished Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-finals, Cork would play out a thriller against provincial rivals Clare, ultimately losing by just a single point in extra-time.

It was one of the most memorable finals of recent years, but the manner of defeat only made defeat more heartbreaking for the Rebels, whose wait for Liam MacCarthy extended to 20 years.

Despite the heartache, manager Pat Ryan showed his class by entering the Clare dressing room and sharing a few words of congratulations with the Banner team.

An All-Ireland winner during his playing career, Ryan knows exactly what it takes, and he had some sage advice for the champions.

"The team with the highest skill level wins the All-Ireland"

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As Cork prepare for their return to the All-Ireland hurling final, manager Pat Ryan sat down with his former teammate, Rebel icon Dónal Óg Cusack, to look ahead to the big day.

Dónal Óg asked Ryan to shed more light on his visit to the Clare dressing room after Cork's defeat to the Banner in last year's final.

Ryan said he felt it important to congratulate Clare, saying he had been taken aback when transitioning to senior management that it was not the custom at inter-county level.

Clare were the best hurling team last year. They had the best level of skill. We looked at it afterwards, all the skill acquisitions we didn't do properly. They performed at a higher level than we did, and that's something we went after.

It caught me off guard when I took over as manager that you didn't go in [to the opposition dressing room] after matches...it just didn't happen at inter-county.

I suppose I hadn't thought about what I'd do after the All-Ireland final.

I was obviously disappointed after the All-Ireland, but I was really, really proud of our fellas. I felt I had to go in and say something to Clare. That's what would have been done traditionally.

You have to man up when you've been beaten. Clare had given everything that day, we had given everything that day, and there was only a puck of a ball in it.

Ryan revealed that he had advised the Clare players not to drink too much on the evening of and after their triumph, saying that these moments were the ones any inter-county player had to savour and cherish forever.

What I said...even when I'm standing in front of the [Cork] players, I don't really make up speeches, I don't have written down what I'm doing. I just try and speak what comes into my head. Sometimes it gets a bit muddled but it's just what comes into my head.

The one thing I remember saying to the Clare fellas was not to drink that much that night! They're special nights, you need to be able to enjoy it. There'll be plenty of time on the Wednesdays and Thursdays for having a few pints.

But that Sunday after an All-Ireland, that Monday after an All-Ireland, being able to remember it, knowing where you were, knowing who you were talking to...I think those are the things I said to them.

The admiration I would have had for Brian Lohan, the way he played, the way he carried himself, he's probably the best full-back ever. I thought it was vital to go in and just give our congratulations to them.

It was not only a classy gesture, but some top-class advice from Ryan.

Whether or not his suggestion was taken, there is no doubt the Clare players would have appreciated such a thoughtful message from an icon of Cork hurling.

Ryan was also asked what he thought had changed in the GAA since he and Dónal Óg Cusack were teammates in the late '90s and early '00s.

He said, despite everything that had remained was the calibre of people within the sport.

I often say it to our lads inside...I don't want to denegrate any other sport, or anything like that, but the greatest young people that we have in the country are GAA players, GAA county players.

They're giving of themselves for nothing. You see the excitement that they're giving, what they're doing for kids.

See what's happening in Cork, look what Limerick have gone through, what Clare went through last year. Tipperary, when they won [against Kilkenny] what they went through.

In our amateur days, what our players are giving and what our players are doing is second to none.

That's not to denegrate swimmers or rowers or athletes...but the best young people in the country are GAA players, without a doubt.

Pat Ryan will hope that he and his squad might be visited by Tipp manager Liam Cahill on Sunday evening, rather than the other way around.

A mouth-watering final gets underway at 3:30pm.