LONG READ: Johnnie Ryan was a great sportsman, loving father and grandfather

Johnnie Ryan from Sheehy Terrace, Clonmel, who died on February 17, lived a long and very active life in Clonmel, the town he loved so well.

He was one of seven Ryan siblings and he was the last of his family, as all his brothers and sisters had predeceased him.
His mother’s roots were from one side of Slievenamon at Ballypatrick, near Kilsheelan, and his father came from the northern side of the mountain at Boula, Killusty, near Fethard.

His parents, Patrick and Ellen, married in 1927 and moved to Clonmel. After a few short years the young parents got a brand new house at 29 Sheehy Terrace, where Johnnie lived for almost all of his 94 years. Life in Clonmel in the 1930s and 40s was a struggle for everyone, as work and opportunities were not plentiful in what was the new free state. World War II was especially difficult and he often spoke about ration books and the shortages.

With seven children, Johnny’s father Patrick, like so many thousands of others, headed off to find work in England. There were lots of people from Fethard and the area around Slievenamon already there, so it was easy to find work with the contacts from the Fethard and Killusty diaspora.

Every week, the wages would be sent home to his wife in Clonmel who kept home for the Ryan children at Sheehy Terrace
As the years went by, as the Ryan children came of age, they all followed in their father’s footsteps to Clonmel train station, and onto Rosslare Harbour and onto the boat for Wales and then onto London. They were not alone as many other people from the Clonmel area also left to find work and to get a start in life.

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The Ryan siblings, Norrie, Patsy, Tommie, Mary, Annie and Noel Ryan all left the town and never returned, except on a visit over the years on holiday.

The Ryans’ father, Patrick, had been in London for a few years and had contacts to get them all started in work in the English capital. While the rest of the siblings settled there, Johnny never did, and after a few months he came home.
He joined the army at Kickham barracks. The army supported all kinds of sport, which Johnnie loved. He took up boxing and was a tough fighter, winning a number of competitions.

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One exhibition fight in 1952 took place in Clonmel Borstal when Johnnie, to the delight of all the young inmates, beat one particularly unpopular guard.

Johnnie also played football with the Clonmel Barracks team and then on the Southern Command army team. They travelled the country, winning all kinds of tournaments.

He also was a runner - an all-round athlete playing handball, soccer, athletics, long jump and high jump. He was good at them all and won many competitions. He became a member of Clonmel Commercials Gaelic football club and played for many years on the Tipperary senior team, from 1953 to 1964.

His accolades in sport included seven senior football titles, five with Clonmel Commercials, including a three in a row in the 1960s; one with the Old Bridge and one with London Shamrocks. He also won a Munster Junior Football medal with Tipperary.
He was one of the very few players who has the unique record of having won county senior football titles in three different decades, the 1950s, the 60s and the 70s. And as if that wasn’t enough, he also won an All-Ireland boxing medal.

Johnnie had two women in his life, both of whom he lived with at 29 Sheehy Terrace. The first was his mother, Ellen who raised her family there and who then continued to live with him up to the time of his marriage to Mary, in 1961.

Johnnie’s family says that both women were saints, as he had more energy than most and was always on the move. Despite all the sports he played, he still had boundless energy. After a day’s work, he’d be off walking in the mountains, dragging his children and their cousins off with him. When Johnnie and Mary were married, his mother Ellen left Sheehy Terrace and moved to London to live with her daughter Annie.

Johnnie, like so many other Clonmel lads at the time, was a good ballroom dancer and the place to go dancing and to meet a partner was the Collins Hall, where so many great Clonmel romances began back in the day. There he met his future wife, Mary O’Shea. They married in Lisronagh church and after a short honeymoon in Dublin they moved into Sheehy Terrace.
It was where their children Sandra, Eoin, Colin and Mark grew up.

Their earliest memories are of being walked and walked up the Comeragh mountains and out around Slievenamon, as well as daily treks to the Wilderness area of Clonmel or to the Nire Valley to explore.

Having left the army Johnny got a job as a boner in Clonmel Foods. This was tough work, lifting and stripping the meat from the sides of cattle. The hours were long with early starts, although he never complained.

Clonmel was the centre of the universe for Johnnie, especially the river walks and the mountain trails. It had everything for anyone interested in the great outdoors. And when the family travelled to other parts of the country, everything was measured in terms of what Clonmel had. The world was compared to the town.

Johnnie had no time to be bored. There was always something to be done, turf to be cut, sticks to be gathered in for the winter, and the garden, which had to be manicured. There were sporting events to go to and challenges to be undertaken.
Things to do and places to see and visit. All to be compared to the place he loved, and to the place he knew. Clonmel.
He had a curiosity, an interest that was insatiable, as was his energy for activities and sports.

In his late 50s Johnnie was still running races and beating fellows half his age. He kept walking miles and miles every day and was a familiar face walking with his two dogs on the mountains over the town, or down the river walk.

His interest in sport never waned and for many years he was a member of the Tipperary United Sports Panel, which each year presents the Annerville awards (then known as the Cidona awards) to the Tipperary sports stars of the year. Johnny followed most sports and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of golf, snooker, cycling, Gaelic games, athletics and of course boxing.

In 2013 he was presented with a Tipperary Hall of Fame award for his contribution to the game of football, a fitting award for someone who gave so much to sport.

In 2010 his wife Mary’s illness and death broke his heart. Thankfully his children were there to support him, along with his grandchildren Robert, Gillian, Kirsty and Conor, who was like a third son to Johnnie. His son-in-law Michael was also a great support.

Johnnie loved his house and his family. When they were all there, he would say how great it was to have them all together.
He loved his grandchildren and in the last two years took great joy in visiting his youngest son, Mark and his wife Mairéad in Rossadrehid to see his youngest grandson Cahill, now aged three, who always brought a smile to his face.

In the last few years, and as his mobility decreased, his family could not get him to use a wheelchair. He had one that still sits in the shed, never used. Like any great warrior he would stand on his own two feet, despite the pain in his hips and knees. He felt the same way about going into a care home, that wouldn’t be happening. If he could not do for himself, he was not having anyone do for him.

His last journeys out of the house were to the post office for his pension or on Sundays for lunch, after which he would visit his favourite place, the graveyard, where the two most important women of his life were buried, his wife and his mother. He also went to Killusty graveyard to visit the graves of his grandparents and uncles and aunts.

Johnnie Ryan was never one for glory or for talking himself up. He was the one who worked hard, who got the goals, who won the races and had success, but never looked for attention. What a great sportsman, loving father, grandfather and proud son of Clonmel he was.

Johnnie is survived by his daughter Sandra (O’Neill), sons Eoin, Colin and Mark, grandchildren Robert, Conor, Gillian, Kirsty and Cathal, son-in-law Michael, daughter-in-law Mairéad, brother-in-law Eamon, sister-in-law Ann, nephews, nieces, extended family and friends, to whom sincere sympathy is extended.

May he rest in peace.