Ryan 'Ricey' McMenamin is a Canadian-born Irish

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who formerly managed the Fermanagh county team. He played for the Tyrone county team, winning three

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) () is the premier inter-county competition in Gaelic football. County (Gaelic games), County teams compete against each other and the winner is declared All-Ireland Champions. Organised by the ...

medals, two Ulster Championships and two

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

titles. Forging a reputation for being a bit of a bad boy during his career, he was awarded an

All Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

for his performances in 2005. McMenamin played his club football for St Dympna's Dromore and won two

Tyrone Senior Football Championship The Tyrone Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Connollys of Moy'' ''Tyrone Senior Football Championship'') is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by top-tier Tyrone GAA clubs. The Tyrone County Boar ...

s with the club. Despite normally starting at corner back for his county, he was not a traditional corner back, often running with the ball up the pitch, and getting himself into scoring positions. However, his marking is among the best in the country, and often marks the opposition's leading scorers. He also played at

centre half back In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre half-back and left and right half-back flank positions. Centre half-back The role of the centre half-bac ...

for his club.

Playing career

Club

McMenamin helped Dromore win the

in 2007, beating

Coalisland Coalisland () is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, with a population of 5,682 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. Four miles from Lough Neagh, it was formerly a centre for coal mining. History Origins In the late 1 ...

in the final. Dromore also reached the following year's final, but were defeated by

Clonoe Clonoe () is a small village and a civil parish in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It includes O'Rahilly Park where the Clonoe O'Rahillys Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club play their home games. It was the scene of the Clonoe ambush in 199 ...

. In 2009 he once again helped Dromore win the

in dramatic style against Ardboe.

Inter-county

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

McMenamin helped Tyrone win the county's first ever

. Two years later he won a second All-Ireland medal with Tyrone, and received an All Star award for his performances that year. In 2006, he captained the much-depleted side due to injury to the captain, Brian Dooher. The side were knocked out of the Championship by

Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

in July. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, he won a third All-Ireland with Tyrone. In the winter of 2012, McMenamin retired from Inter-county football and is no longer with the Tyrone senior setup.

International rules

McMenamin represented

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the

International Rules Series The International Rules Series is a senior men's international rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team (selected by the Australian Football League) and the Ireland international rules football team ...

Disciplinary problems

Discipline was an underlying problem in McMenamin's career, which at times threatened to overshadow his achievements. This indiscipline was apparent throughout his career, and he made a name for his verbal taunting of his direct opponents during matches as well, which was mentioned by

Oisín McConville Oisín McConville (; born 13 October 1975) is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player. He has been manager of the Wicklow county team since 2022. McConville played at senior level for the Armagh county team in the 1990s and 2000s. H ...

in his autobiography. His 2005 achievements were blotted somewhat by his disciplinary record. He was given a yellow card late on in the replayed Ulster Championship, for dropping his knee onto a fallen player. This was upgraded to a sending off after the game, which meant that McMenamin would be suspended for the following four weeks, but Tyrone launched an appeal, employing the services of former player, and practising solicitor,

Feargal Logan Feargal Logan is a Gaelic football manager and former player, who was a starting member of the Tyrone county team that reached the 1995 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final. Legal career Since retiring from play, Logan's name has bec ...

. The appeal was successful but only after McMenamin missed the All-Ireland qualifier against

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...

. In the opening game of the 2007

Ulster Senior Football Championship The Ulster Senior Football Championship is an inter-county competition for Gaelic football teams in the Irish province of Ulster. It is organised by the Ulster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and begins in April. The final is ...

, despite being one of the few first choice panellists available on the injury-hit side, he was substituted just before half time because he had already picked up a yellow card and a ticking—meaning he was one bad tackle away from being sent off. He was visibly upset when he was shown coming off the field. As a result of his behaviour in a league match against Kerry on Sunday 15 February, where he was seen to grab Paul Galvin in the

groin In human anatomy, the groin, also known as the inguinal region or iliac region, is the junctional area between the torso and the thigh. The groin is at the front of the body on either side of the pubic tubercle, where the lower part of the abdom ...

area, he was banned for eight weeks. Initially the ban was for six weeks, but due to the nature of McMenamin's behaviour the ban was raised to eight weeks, when the Tyrone County Board appealed the initial six-week ban. In addition to the incident with Paul Galvin for which he received the ban, McMenamim was involved in a number of unsavoury incidents throughout the match, which led to intense criticism in the media.

Managerial career

McMenamin took over as Fermanagh senior manager in August 2019, having previously spent two years serving in the background. His time in charge was affected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He departed as Fermanagh senior manager in August 2021. He joined the Cavan management team in late 2021.

References

External links

Ryan McMenamin's match by match profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMenamin, Ryan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian Gaelic footballers Canadian sportspeople of Irish descent Cavan county football team non-playing personnel Dromore St Dympna's Gaelic footballers Fermanagh county football team non-playing personnel Gaelic football backs Gaelic football managers Irish people of Canadian descent Irish international rules football players Tyrone inter-county Gaelic footballers Winners of three All-Ireland medals (Gaelic football)