Tá an-áthas orm an corn seo a ghlacadh…
A number of Gaels have climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand and accepted the Liam MacCarthy or the Sam Maguire on behalf of their counties with a speech trí Gaeilge.
Galway hurling captain Joe Connolly delivered one of the most memorable All-Ireland winning captain’s speeches in 1980 when he burst into his native tongue and spoke from the heart.
Cork men John Fenton and Seán Óg Ó h’Ailpín hoisted Liam MacCarthy above their heads to the roars of the Rebel Faithful after they’d passionately declared what the Celtic Cross meant to them and their county through Irish.
An Ghaeltacht club man Dara Ó Cinnéide did similar when Kerry won Sam in 2005.
While all of these men won the hearts and minds of the country with their nod to the Irish language, not one of them had put as much work into it as Kilkenny’s 2014 All-Ireland winning captain Lester Ryan.
In Kilkenny, the captain emerges from the county title winning club of the year previous. By virtue of Clara’s triumph over Carrickshock in the 2013 County final, the midfielder was nominated as the Cats’ captain for the year.
In reality, Ryan’s preparation for his moment in the September sun began long before that. 16 years before that, way back in 1998 in fact when as a 10-year-old, he addressed ‘Uachtarán na hÉireann, agus uachtarán an Cumann Lúthchleas Gael’ to the triumphant cheers of his two brothers Liam and Tom and his cousin Kevin Bolger.
That helps to explain the fierce confidence and gusto Ryan brought to the fray sixteen years later after Kilkenny defeated Tipperary in the epic 2014 All-Ireland hurling final replay.
What makes Ryan’s offering all the more impressive is that he’s not a native Irish speaker. Instead, after Cody’s men triumphed over Limerick in the lashing Drumcondra rain in that year’s semi-final in August, Lester Ryan began learning every word of his speech through Irish.
It certainly paid off.
Long live the ritual of the captain’s speech.
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