Like so many of the young Clare hurlers at the end of the 2013 season, Conor Ryan seemed to have the world at his feet.
With an Under-21 All-Ireland title under his belt, he began to make a serious impression on senior manager Davy Fitzgerald in the early part of the year, before seizing his chance in championship.
Introduced against Wexford, he got his first start against Galway in the quarter-final and never looked back. Dómhnall O'Donovan is best remembered for the drawn final with Cork, but it was Ryan who claimed the player of the match award, excelling again the second time out as Clare ended the year as unlikely champions.
Unbeknownst to himself, he would never grace the hallowed turf of Croke Park again in a Clare jersey.
Clare's meek attempt at retaining Liam MacCarthy was somewhat offset by Cratloe’s double county exploits, Ryan feeling at the peak of his physical powers.
That however was to change in 2015. The energy levels dipped and try as he might, there was a sluggish feeling he couldn’t escape, though not from the lack of effort.
"I never really felt like I had the talent of the guys around me, so I always felt I had to work that bit extra hard to make up for that lack of talent," he tells Marie Crowe on RTÉ’s Sunday Sport.
"There was a huge sense of imposter syndrome being in All-Ireland winning dressing room. At the time, I was really putting myself to the pin of my collar."
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With so much success early in his career, the standards set were moving into 'unrealistic’ territory. There was no ceiling. If he trained four days a week, why not make it five?
"I had it in my head this was what I had to do remain part of a winning team," he says.
The enjoyment was replaced by stress as confidence ebbed away. The weight loss he put down to training.
In 2016, Dr Quinn, the long-time medic with the Clare team, wasn’t happy with his blood tests, or more to the point, the low levels of adrenalin and testosterone he was seeing and it was decided to investigate further.
It turned out that Ryan had an issue with his pituitary gland. There was short-term relief – after an anxious two-week wait – when he was given the all-clear for cancer, but while he was prescribed medication, he couldn’t return to anywhere near the fitness levels he wanted. One medic told him it was driving a car uphill with the handbrake on.
An unused sub as Clare bowed out of the championship to Galway, he wasn’t making much of an impression at club level either, being pushed off the ball and feeling lethargic. The lack of power, something he would have prided himself on, was hard to reconcile.
He decided to skip the 2017 season to try and get himself right once and for all, but nothing seemed to improve matters. A year later, at the age of 26 and with his brother Diarmaid breaking into the Clare panel, he decided to call it quits. Medical advice told him he’d never get back to the physical levels of his younger days.
The overriding emotion was one of devastation, but there was also an element of relief. There would be no more chasing of past glories, yet coming to terms with what the future held was somewhat overwhelming.
"I felt very quickly my identity had been taken away. I struggled with that for a little while," he says. "I found it really, really tough to adapt to life without sport. I found it hard going to games.
"There was a sense of guilt as well. I didn’t think it would have as much of an impact on me. I wasn’t the best person to get along with at the time."
The guilt factor was particularly hard to deal with in the early stages of retirement. As the compliments and tributes for his short, yet decorated inter-county career arrived - Colm Collins once told him that he got his shopping in early - he again felt the imposter syndrome kick back in.
"I felt like I had played with Clare for a wet week. I got really, really lucky in the short time that I played in terms of what we won. Some unbelievable hurlers over the years, guys I grew up idolising, wouldn’t have had that success."
With hurling and football firmly parked, he leaned into his career at Davy Stockbrokers, undertaking an MBA opportunity in America. It was a clean slate, with no talk of bygone Banner days. The competitive drive and energy from his playing days was now being channelled into work.
Healthy habits were developed – "no drastic changes" – and incremental physical improvement was noticeable. As 2022 drew to a close and before he returned home, the energy levels had returned to something he hadn’t experienced in years.
"I had made my peace with not playing, but getting back to a normal life without medication was such a relief for me."
Back in Cratloe one Saturday morning early this year, he shot the breeze with the club’s football coach Johnny Gormley. Assuming a playing return was not even a remote possibility, Gormley wanted to gauge what interest there would be with helping out on the coaching side of things.
"I was there scratching my head as if I’m giving the same commitment coaching, could I not just try and play?"
The plan was to head down to junior training and suss things out in his own time. If it didn’t work out, nothing lost.
Ten minutes into the first training session, the hamstring went. After that there were further niggles to contend with as the body adapted to a return to training.
"Years ago that would have just floored me. I would have been down, but now I was talking it in my stride. I knew it was a process. The goals for me were firstly to just pull on a Cratloe jersey, secondly to get on the field and third - winning - probably wasn’t in my wildest dreams."
He had decided to concentrate on hurling initially, but Cratloe were eliminated in the group stages after a heavy defeat to Clooney-Quin. Twenty minutes on the pitch alongside brother Diarmuid was a cherished moment, but the exit opened up the door to a return with the footballers under the guidance of Colm Collins.
"People ask do you prefer hurling or football, but I think every guy in Cratloe will tell you they just love putting on the jersey and playing with our mates and brothers.
"I played football all the way up along. The environment the Collins’ have created… they have pulled this team on and we have got to the top of the mountain in Clare again and it is really special."
Ryan was a half-time substitute in the narrow county final victory over St Breckan’s and the journey from the club’s last county in 2014 can be most easily demonstrated by brother Diarmuid.
A waterboy nine years ago up to the hip of his older brother, the Clare hurler is driving the team on from the middle of the field.
"I was absolutely brimming with pride the last couple of years seeing the great things he has done."
Ryan is adamant the club are "over-achievers", but sees no reason why they can’t make a serious charge in Munster, though a trip to take on either Nemo Rangers or Castlehaven will focus the minds.
How does the 32-year-old view himself now after the journey he has been on?
"I was as highly strung as you could imagine when I was younger," he says. "I’m much more laid back now, more appreciative of things in life.
"I look back now and I never like to say that I regret the intensity, as I have been able to apply that to other parts of my life and I have been really happy at where things have fallen.
"If I could tell my younger self anything, it would be to chill out, things will be fine.
And what about his identity, something in his 20s that was wrapped up in a golden period for Clare hurling?
"Hopefully people see me as a good person, friend, brother, son. That’s the most important thing."
Listen to the full interview with Conor Ryan on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport, from 2pm
