Oh and yes...as you see below there is a rare collectable Liam Ryan NFL card, which some auction houses might in fact place more value on than a Honus Wagner baseball card once owned by the great one himself; Wayne Gretzky (Google it people).
Liam Ryan, QB/FS, University of Limerick Vikings
Der Irlander: Hi Liam, thanks for taking time out for an interview. Let’s get it rolling so: through the years you’ve helped lead the Vikings from the IAFL basement to a perennial powerhouse, what was the biggest thing that helped you guys transform into the Vikings we know today?
Liam Ryan: Hi Ross, first off thanks for thinking of me for this, I really enjoy your blog and hope it continues to grow in popularity. With the Vikings the biggest thing that helped us was continuity. We went through a couple of hard losing seasons but kept the core of the team together and once that core group of guys had 3 or so years experience it really started to show. They became more confident of what was happening on the field and were able to pass more knowledge onto new players in training. Many of the guys I played with in the early years are still involved so its a question of keeping on adding more and more talented players to the roster and continuing to grow. I think teams have to improve year on year to remain competitive in the Irish game as the standard is advancing so quickly.
DI: You’ve played a number of positions throughout the years; QB, WR, FS, which of those do you think is your most natural fit and what position do you envision yourself playing for the coming years?
LR: The only positions I haven't played in a competitive IAFL game are Centre and DT! But my primary positions would be QB and FS. I think my most natural position is safety and Mark Ashworth had an amazing season this year at QB for the Vikings so I hope to remain at FS for the forseeable future. I enjoy the physical side of playing defence and also the mental games involved in playing safety.
DI: You guys narrowly lost to the Dublin Rebels in the Shamrock Bowl this year, a single point being the difference, and you were one game away from a perfect season; do you think the pressure for a perfect season may have gotten to your guys on the Irish league’s biggest stage?
LR: I don't think that thought came into anyones heads during the Bowl game this year. Any time we play the Rebels it is always a tough, close game. The whole squad has experience in playing in big games but I just think the Rebels were more clinical with their opportunities on the day.
DI: The year previous you guys managed to set a new height of achievement when you won the EFAF Atlantic Cup in Dublin, how did you find the tournament and the level of other amateur European teams out there?
LR: The Atlantic Cup was an amazing experience and definitely the biggest achievement of the team so far. The tournament format was well great with a shorter Semi Final on Saturday and a long Final on Sunday. We put a lot of work into rest and recovery on the Saturday evening with ice-baths and physios so that we would be good for the final and it paid off. The standard of the other European teams was very good, the Belgian and Dutch teams were extremely physical and well organised. In the final we played the Dutch champions and we struggled to contain them and found it hard to move the ball. We had some massive trick plays come off with a touchdown coming on a HB Pass and a big gain on a WR Pass. Our defence stepped up at the end of the game with some big turnovers and that image of Garvey plunging over the line in the last minute for the game winning TD is one I will never forget.
DI: For the past six years the Vikings have been enjoying a stability most IAFL teams would kill for, winning three Bowls in a row and appearing in 3 others; how do you see your guys faring in the coming years in the league?
LR: The Vikings have done a lot of work on the non-football side of the club. There is a strong coaching structure in place, a good financial setup and a strong Club Board. These things are key to remain competitive in this game because if they are wrong then you will struggle to attract and retain talented players. I think many of the players we have will remain playing, most are younger than me (27) so there are a good few years left in the tank with them.
DI: A lot of European teams have free range on their recruiting pools, being a college team are there restrictions on your player pool?
LR: As a University club we have to have a Club membership of at least 80% University of Limerick students. Other than that we have no limits on numbers of American players that can play or things like that. I would like to see a limit introduced in the IAFL as all teams seem to be drifting towards having 2 or 3 American players on their roster and if a limit is not introduced that number could creep up.
DI: What would other college teams that appear throughout the country have to do to develop themselves into a contender like UL have?
LR: The first thing they would have to do is get a good Head Coach. It is important to have someone who has an understanding of the game and the patience to teach completely new players how to play the game. The knowledge that a good Head Coach brings will make football more enjoyable and the team a lot stronger. Bringing Ciaran O'Sullivan into the UL setup really progressed the team on to another level. All college teams should try and secure as much University funding for as much club equipment as possible in order to make it easy for people to try out the game. They should also organise plenty of team social activities (i.e. drinking/bonding sessions) as it will develop a much closer squad and build that continuity I spoke about earlier. Also a guy is much more likely to lay everything on the line blocking for a friend as opposed to blocking for some dude whose name he doesn't know. But I definitely think that University teams have a much easier life than the likes of the Rebels/Knights/Admirals as the Universities are a massive assistance.
DI: Have you ever thought about trying your hand at playing football abroad?
LR: I visited Kieran (Coen) and Jim (Davis) when they played with the Valencia Firebats and I loved the lifestyle they had. I've definitely given thought to it, I was in talks with a couple of teams in Europe and New Zealand a few years back but I didn't take the chance when it came up. Now I have a good job and a fantastic girlfriend in Ireland and life is good here so I don't think I would move anywhere to play football. But if the opportunity arose again I would definitely have to give it serious thought.
DI: Knowing the level of player Ireland is capable of producing do you see many UL guys heading out and giving it a shot?
LR: Kieran Coen won the Spanish Bowl with Valencia, Bill Parkinson and Mark Gaffney are playing with the Perth Blitz this year, Mark was named on the Australian Allstar team at MLB so we know that our guys can go abroad and be successful. I would always encourage our players to look at the Europlayers site and some are investigating the opportunities abroad. I think that there will be some guys that will go abroad next year and do well in Europe. I think it also benefits the Vikings as these players come back and are much better football players and can raise the game of the rest of the team in training.
DI: What about the rest of the players in the league?
LR: There are definitely players all over the league with the potential to play at a high level in Europe. The Rebels squad is littered with such players, the Knights have some standouts and all teams in the league have guys that would benefit from playing in Europe. Loughran for the Cowboys and McDowell for Trinity are two young players that really caught the eye this year.
DI: You and I have had a number of stare downs across the line of scrimmage throughout the years, you at QB and me at LB, I'll mention my favourite memory first but does any particular moment stand out to you?
LR: I remember back in 2006, the year we first met in the Bowl. We played a regular season game and I thought I knew the Dublin Rebels roster pretty well as I had been playing them regularly since 2002. I was playing Wide Receiver and I remember a Linebacker making a one handed leaping interception of a pass intended for me that was returned for a TD. I asked afterwards who made that play and it turned out to be you. Quite a first impression to make! In the 2010 Bowl I remember asking in the Offensive Huddle if McCooey was in here as you seemed to be reading our plays better than some of our own players!
Ross McCooey: My favourite memories always seem to be the simple things that remind us that we're just a bunch of guys running about a field playing a game we love. For instance my favourite memory of crossing swords with you was in the 2010 Shamrock Bowl when you were calling out routes to your WRs using a numbered code, for example you might see what the D was doing and turn to the receivers and holler out "51, 17! 51, 17!" or some such. Anyway, in that Bowl game I attempted to confuse the system by yelling out numbers myself and whatever numbers I called out must have fit with your code because you then turned and looked at me square in the eye and while laughing gave an auld wink and a nod before getting set to take the snap: priceless!
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So there you go! Great interview from Liam; an omen for things to come no doubt! Look out for future interviews with notable Irish players and members of the IAFL and of course the odd uber-celebrity tossed in for good measure!
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Slán!
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