LIMERICK gaelic footballer Pa Ranahan has announced his retirement from inter county this week. A simple message on his twitter account stated,
“Agus sin è. Great days. Great memories. Great friends. Was so proud everytime I wore green & white #7 #LuimneachAbú”
Ranahan, 33, represented his county for nine seasons. The Ballysteen club man made his championship debut under then manager Mickey Ned O’Sullivan in a Munster SFC clash against Cork in 2007.
Speaking to PostSport this week, Ranahan spoke of his pride at playing for the Limerick ‘football family’ while adding that coaching is and will be an option for him in the future.
DOS: As always when someone retires, we ask them for their favourite memory?
PR : It would have to be 2011 against Wexford in Portlaoise. The celebrations at the end were unbelievable. I know it wasn’t a trophy winning game or anything like that, but it was great to celebrate getting to Croke Park for the first time ever and into an All Ireland quarter final. The Limerick football scene is so small that you would know nearly every supporter and it was great to celebrate that win with them. The 20 minutes after that game and the bus home were special. They made it worth all the rest of the hard work. The one regret from the quarter finals that year was they we didn’t get to play someone new, a Dublin or Mayo, we played Kerry again.
Another highlight for me was the 2009 Munster final against Cork. I know we lost, but I enjoyed that day. I marked Paul Kerrigan, he was taken off actually and I felt that I could take some positives from that game. The vivid memories I have of that day, is scoring a point and really enjoying the walk around in the parade. It was worth all the work.
DOS: What was it like to be a Limerick footballer?
PR: It was tough to be honest. There isn’t a whole pile of plaudits floating around for being a Limerick footballer, I must say. There is nothing to be gained from it off the field really. It’s all about enjoyment and pride in the jersey. I remember being at several weddings and drinking orange juice and water and people would ask me why was I doing it? “Ye are never going to win anything” they would say. I knew that we wouldn’t win an All Ireland, but funnily enough, I never went on to the pitch thinking my man would beat me or that we as a team would lose. Even when we played teams who would be competing for the All Ireland, I never thought for a minute we would lose. So when I was asked about why I did it, it was for the enjoyment and the challenge. The challenge of testing yourself against other players.
DOS: How did it all begin for you on the inter-county scene?
PR: It was back in January of 2006 and Donie Nestor rang me to chat about joining Mickey Ned’s panel. Mickey Ned had taken over from Liam Kearns and was trying to get some new faces in. I must admit, I was very nervous walking into that dressing room the first night. There were some big names in there, like John Galvin, Stephen Lucey and Jason Stokes. I remember Mickey Ned introducing me, as the panel had been training for 6 or 7 weeks previous to my arrival. “This is Pa Ranahan lads. He will be joining us from now on” Mickey Ned declared, to which Jason Stokes replied, (pointing at Stephen Lucey) “And who is he? He hasn’t been here for the last 6 or 7 weeks either” That was a great ice breaker for me and something I have tried to do with new lads coming on to the Limerick panel since. I have gotten messages this week from younger players, saying that I helped them settle in and that is something I will cherish.
DOS: Why now. Why stop?
PR: I always said I would stop when I felt that I would no longer be nailed on to start. I knew leaving Thurles last weekend that, that was it. It was emotional to be honest and when the messages started to come in, it was fairly emotional too. I had spoken to my wife Niamh about going back for the last few seasons now and when my two kids Jack and Lucey arrived, the decision became a bigger one each season. John Galvin always said that “When you think you can still ‘offer’ something, it is time to go. Because ‘offering something’ is just not good enough”
I had been playing for close to 10 years now and felt it was time. I enjoyed the last 3 or four seasons, when things didn’t go great, as much as I did the first four or five, when they did. I probably took the good years a little bit for granted, but that is always the case.
DOS: What does the future hold? Football? Coaching? Cones?
PR: I will definitely continue in some capacity. I love football. I blame my mother for giving me this obsession. She drove me to all these games and gave me my love for it. I coach the Limerick U/15’s at the moment and I hope to stay on there for a while with that group. I have learned a lot over the years from coaches like Cian O’Neill, John Brudair, Maurice Horan, Jerome Stack and especially Donie Buckley. I used to rush home from a Donie Buckley session and record every detail of what we had done. There is definitely a future in football. (Niamh won’t like to hear that, Ranahan laughs)
DOS: The last words on the retirement piece come from this journalist who followed Ranahan and his team mates up and down the country. The man who ‘always’ wore seven will be remembered for his work rate, passion and football intellect. As Ranahan said himself this week, about his retirement,
“It’s like a funeral, but you are still alive. Everyone is being so nice and you are around to hear it”
Fitting words indeed.
