Keith Dervan impressed for Garda College in the Ryan Cup.
By Paul Fitzpatrick
The final whistle sounded and the Ryan Cup secured, on a windswept pitch at the Connacht Centre of Excellence, Garda College vice-captain Keith Dervan gathered his thoughts.
The corner-back picked up his second successive Ryan Cup medal and, flanked by captain and Laois senior star Podge Delaney, told the assembled crowd that this was “a day we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives”.
While the college scene is possibly unique in Gaelic games in that it juggles elite performance with a social and recreational element, within that, the Garda College stands alone, Dervan said.
“Words can’t even describe what this means, I’m very emotional here. To do it back to back is just remarkable, the lads on the field are the best of friends, we’d do anything for each other,” Dervan, who is stationed in Irishtown in Dublin, told GAA.ie.
“The lads instilled in us last night during the meeting what this really means. Third level hurling is just special, it’s a special, special competition and these are memories we’ll never, ever forget.”
Wearing the famous sky blue and navy of the Garda Síochána is a privilege, said Dervan, who believes there is a strong sense of purpose around the Garda teams.
“We’re in the unique position with the job we do, it’s tough. That brotherhood is there, that never say die attitude – we’ll always back each other and it was the same there today. We’ll never, ever forget this day.
“We like to think our jersey means something more than other college jerseys and the reason for that is, we have a number on the back of our jersey, number 89, and that represents 89 lads who went to work but didn’t come home that day, that died in the line of duty.
“And I suppose we go out every day and we don’t know what we’re going to face. When we put on that jersey, we know we’re lucky to wear it, and we know what it means to play for the guards and what this jersey means.
“A clubman of my own, Paul Flynn, he was a guard, he died there a number of years ago, he was in the same unit as my manager and that was brought up last night, him being from the same club as myself. Look, it really brought home for me just how lucky we are to be able to go out and play this game we love.
“It’s hard to put it into words. You’re playing with and against some of the best players in the country. It’s a special, special competition. Lads are playing against each other at county level and then they put on the same jersey and are fighting alongside those lads.
“Trying to get on the field together can be difficult but we do it because we love it.
“We’re in a unique situation that we have lads all over the country so we don’t get to train, we have to do our won training ourselves and we meet then for the matches and the management have organised challenges.
“The one thing we always have been playing for is this jersey, that’s the driving force.”
Garda College defeated Ulster University by 0-19 to 1-13 in a hard-fought battle.
“The time of year it is, heavy pitches and tough conditions. We have played TUD a couple of times and there has never been more than a puck of the ball in it. It’s always a right battle. We knew what we were facing coming into it, we have great respect for TUD,” said Dervan.
