LAST UPDATE | 25 Feb
THE SARSFIELDS HURLING club have paid tribute to former Cork player Ray Ryan after the ‘heartbreaking news’ of his ‘unexpected passing’.
Ryan was a member of the Cork senior hurling squad across the 2009-11 period, starting in the 2010 All-Ireland senior quarter-final against Antrim, and coming on as sub in three other games in that year’s championship.
He was part of a hugely successful Sarsfields side, winning four Cork senior medals (2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014), while lining out at centre-back in all four final victories.
A brother of Cork senior hurling manager Pat, Ray was a member of An Garda Síochána.
Rest in peace Ray https://t.co/8AY3iXASwk
— Sars (@SarsfieldsCork) February 25, 2025
All in Cork GAA offer our sincere sympathies to the Ryan family on the sad passing of Ray, formerly of Sarsfields, Glanmire and Cork Senior Hurlers. Our thoughts are with Pat, our current Senior Hurling manager and brother of Ray, at this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/vpbKmv6f5c
— Cork GAA (@OfficialCorkGAA) February 25, 2025
The Sarsfields club paid tribute to their current minor manager and club stalwart this afternoon, with Cork GAA also sharing its condolences this evening.
“All in Cork GAA offer our sincere sympathies to the Ryan family on the sad passing of Ray, formerly of Sarsfields, Glanmire and Cork senior Hurlers,” Cork GAA wrote in a social media post.
“Our thoughts are with Pat, our current senior hurling manager and brother of Ray, at this difficult time.”
The Sarsfields statement reads:
“It is with heavy hearts that we at Sarsfields Hurling Club must share the heartbreaking news of the unexpected passing of our Minor Manager and club stalwart, Ray Ryan.
“His loss has left an immense void not only within our club, but also within Glanmire Football Club and the wider Glanmire community.
“Our deepest condolences go out to Aisling, his beautiful children, the Ryan family and friends during this incredibly difficult time. Ray’s unwavering dedication and passion for the game, as well as his kindness and commitment to our club will forever be remembered.
“Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.”
- Updated 10.12pm with Cork GAA statement
Watch Royal Rumble 2003. Around the 8 minute mark Edge and Rey Mysterio give him a double dropkick but Edge goes right across his face and breaks his nose!
The worst one pat. Remember m n m? When the guy got the ladder right in the face. Complete botch. His nose spread across his face
Joey hasn’t been the same since and is effectively retired (training in nxt now). One of the worst injuries I’ve witnessed.
Oh God. Yeh, that one is foul!
I love watching NFL, but the number of former players committing suicide because of the CTE-related dementia is scary and really needs to be addressed.
It’s not just just the older guys suffering symptoms either, linebacker Jovan Belcher who was only 26 and still playing for the KC Chiefs last year, murdered the mother of his child and committed suicide.
How long before they wake up and change the rules?
Where is it claimed that this had to do with cte? The reasoning behind that particular tragedy says he had a row with his gf over whether their daughter was his or not.
I think it’s really admirable what chris is doing but other tragedies shouldn’t be cited to push an agenda…
Belcher was a 3 time All America wrestler as well as a crunching linebacker whose job it is to crash head first repeatedly into 250lb+ blockers and running backs… head trauma much?
It is also well documented by close colleagues and friends that he displayed all the early stage signs of cte, e.g. depression, memory loss, confusion, aggressive behaviour etc…
…but hey if you think shooting his girlfriend 9 times and then himself was a perfectly sane, rational response to a row over the daughter then fair enough.
Like I said I love watching nfl, but it doesn’t take a genius to realise that repeatedly leading with their helmets, as they are taught to do from a young age, causes major problems later in life.
Was the same story with the Chris Benoit murder suicide. Everyone put it down to roid rage or personal issues with his wife but Nowinski worked with Benoits father closely and when they did an autopsy on the brain of Chris Benoit they discovered that due to the number of concussions Chris Benoit suffered he had a brain the equivalent to an elderly person suffering dementia. It was then argued how many dementia sufferers kill their family but I would argue back how many are physically capable of doing so.
After this was high lighted WWE took steps to prevent this. Unprotected chair shots to the head are banned, certain moved such as piledrivers and top rope head butts (incidentally one of Benoits finishers) are banned. On the other hand American Football associations have stuck their head in the sand.
Billy Korgan.
Karl Pilkingtons twin. :)
I agree that the NFL has to do more to
protect players – the constant impact to the brain in the sport is definitely related to depression later in a players life, as seen with linebacker Junior Seau. I also think that the NFL isn’t strict enough in regards to PEDs – so many players nowadays are on HGH and other banned substances – the combination of both brain trauma and dangerous substances does even more damage to the body. No wonder ex players are suing.
Interesting piece, but the link on Twitter was called “We’re putting our kids at too much risk by letting them play certain contact sports. Here’s how we can change that:”
This doesn’t really come close to addressing that…