Wyer loving life under new manager as Ratoath bid for more glory

Ben Wyer will captain Ratoath as the club look to win their fourth Keegan Cup in seven years when they take on Summerhill in Sunday's SFC final at Pairc Tailteann.

Wyer leads an experienced group of players, many who have multiple SFC medals in their back pocket. Speaking to the Meath Chronicle, Weir spoke about how much of an honour it is for him to captain this group of players.

“It's a huge honour to captain my club and especially this group of players. My job as captain is made a lot easier because there are so many leaders in the group itself. The amount of experience we have in the team helps massively. Even the younger lads are leaders in my eyes in the way they train and prepare for games. So, it's been a massive honour, but the job has been made quite easy because of the lads involved.”

Reflecting back on the semi-final victory over Skryne, Wyer praised Mick O’Dowd’s side and admitted that the scoreboard was slightly flattering to Ratoath.

“Skryne are a really good team, they've a good mix of youth and experience. They have really improved over the last couple of years so we knew it was going to be a tough challenge. They had that purple patch at the start of the second-half and got themselves back into it. We were happy with our response to that. We tweaked a few things on the pitch between a couple of players and just pushed on, which was good and we were happy because it really could have gone either way. The scoreboard at the end probably flatters us a bit.”

Looking ahead to the final, Wyer spoke about the mutual respect between themselves and Summerhill.

“You have to give Summerhill full respect; we always have. We respect them as a team and as a club and have done so for a long time. We have gone to battle with them so many times. There is no doubt that they have quality in their side. They have some very talented forwards in the likes of the Frayne brothers, Kevin Ryan and David Larkin. As a defence, we will have to be at our best if we want to come out on top.”

Wyer went on to speak about the new rules and how well he and his teammates in the Ratoath defence have adapted to them.

“I'm used to being a man marker at this stage. That’s the role I’ve been playing for Ratoath for a few years now so I’m well used to those one-on-one battles, which obviously has become more prevalent now with the new rules," he said.

"This year, there is probably a bit more space for the forwards but I think when you defend as a unit like we have been doing, it makes the new game a lot easier. You have to pride yourself on the one-on-one battles but with us, there is always a lad right there next to you, which is encouraging.

“Every manager and coach who comes in has a different style of play and philosophy. It takes time to buy into that and understand what they are trying to achieve.

"At the start of the year, we were trying out some things and a few times we had to reset. That's the game now and especially with these new rules, it’s all about evolving. That is one thing that our team has been very good at over the years. We haven’t always played the same way. Nevertheless, it’s a great achievement for Paul (Galvin), the management team, and ourselves to get to a county final in his first year of managing us.”

Wyer spoke about the emphasis that manager Galvin puts on skills and explained how the squad has really bought into that because of the way they were coached at underage.

“Paul puts a huge emphasis on skills and we as a group really buy into that.

That is how we have been taught to play football since we were kids. We had some great coaches down the years in the likes of Dermot Rooney, Paul Everard, Paul McCann, Keith Cooley, all those lads used to put a massive emphasis on improving skills and being two-footed and two-handed.

"Paul has obviously taken that to a whole new level this year and that's the type of player he was as well. So, that style of coaching has resonated with us from our youth and we have really bought into it,” concluded the Ratoath who will hope to be the last man to climb the old steps of the Pairc Tailteann stand to collect the Keegan Cup for his club.