LEGENDARY Gaelic football coach Dessie Ryan may be missing his long-time sprint partner Patsy Forbes during lockdown - but the Tyrone native is keeping things blissfully simple.
The man who moulded the brilliant careers of so many footballers of the 1990s and 2000s is still going strong at 80-years-of-age, and won’t let a global pandemic stop him from indulging in his passion.
Queen's two-time Sigerson Cup winning manager, who still trains three times per week, is trying to keep these crazy days in perspective.
“I just can’t put it into words but things that seem to be terribly important aren’t,” said Ryan when asked how Covid19 has impacted on his life.
“But that’s maybe because of my age that certain things don’t concern me anymore. But for people to have to work and rear a family – that is a different kettle of fish. I don’t have that. I could say people need to slow down but until you’re in that position – I’m not bailing out of the question – but you can talk about it from your own position and find what works for you.”
Christened Mr Miyagi by one of his disciples Aidan O’Rourke, Ryan tasted Sigerson glory with the Belfast university in 1990 and 2000 in two different managerial stints.
Regarded to be ahead of his time in coaching circles, so many Ulster players cite him as the most influential figure in their careers. O’Rourke, Philip Jordan, Diarmaid Marsden, Enda McNulty and Paddy Campbell are just some of the veteran coach’s biggest fans.
“I haven’t had to tweak that much," Ryan said. "Life is not that complicated. Just being able to go somewhere and chat. You are sort of marooned here [Ballyronan] because wherever I go you see people and you talk but you forget yourself sometimes [with social distancing]. So everyone’s adhering to it which is brilliant.
“You just hope there will be a cure found for this”
Up until the pandemic hit Ireland, Ryan and his friend Patsy Forbes would have been training together three times per week for over a decade with the pair competing in Irish and British championships until three or four years ago.
“Things have been good, thank God. I can exercise a little bit. Myself and Patsy [Forbes] were running a few times per week but we’ve had to curtail it recently. Patsy is running at the house, he’s a couple of hills and I’ve a wee bit of space at home, 100 metres or so and I run 80 to 100 metres – all short stuff.
“We’d maybe have been out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. We live four or five miles apart. It’s a little bit difficult at the moment because one motivated the other.
“When I worked in the New York Fire Department [late 1950’s/ early 60’s] I used to run long distances. But when I came home Patsy got me into the sprinting. We were still competing. Patsy competed in Europe. As a matter of fact, the fella who Patsy tied in third with in the European Championships a couple of years ago is now the world champion.”
In an interview with The Irish News in 2014, Enda McNulty went along to Tullamore to watch the-then 73-year-old compete in the Irish Masters.
Up to that point, McNulty was always sceptical about his mentor’s fitness claims.
“I took them with a little pinch of salt,” said McNulty.
"I thought he couldn't really be that fast or that fit at his age. I was literally gobsmacked watching Dessie and his good friend Patsy Forbes running that day, so much so that I went out the next night with my brother to run the same times over 200m and 400m, and I was in bed with the flu for a week afterwards. I couldn't get near his times."
Life mightn’t be the same as it was up around Ballyronan, but life remains good for one of Ulster's favourite sons.
