James Ryall

James Ryall

Personal information
Irish name	Séamas Ó Raghaill
Sport	Hurling
Position	Right wing-back
Born	(1980-11-14) 14 November 1980 Ballycallan, County Kilkenny, Ireland
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Nickname	Ryallers
Occupation	Sales Representative
Club(s)
Years	Club
	Graigue-Ballycallan
Club titles
Kilkenny titles	1
Leinster titles	1
All-Ireland Titles	0
Inter-county(ies)
Years	County	Apps (scores)
2003-2010	Kilkenny	20 (0-00)
Inter-county titles
Leinster titles	7
All-Irelands	6
NHL	2
All Stars	0

James Ryall (born 14 November 1980 in Kilmanagh, County Kilkenny, Ireland) is an Irish sportsperson. He plays hurling with his local club Graigue-Ballycallan and was a member of the Kilkenny senior inter-county team from 2002 to 2010.

Biography

James Ryall was born in Kilmanagh, County Kilkenny in 1980. He was educated locally and later attended Coláiste Éamann Rís in Kilkenny, a well known hurling school. Here his hurling talents were quickly spotted and he won a Leinster Colleges' title with the school's senior hurling team. Ryall later attended the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, where he was named hurler of the year in 2001. He currently works as a sales rep with Michael Lyng Motors Kilkenny.

Playing career

Club

Ryall plays his club hurling with his local Graigue-Ballycallan Gaelic Athletic Association club. He had some success at underage level and was on the panel when the club won the county championship in 1998 and 2000.

Inter-county

Although never having All-Ireland success at minor or under-21 level with Kilkenny, Ryall has become a key member of the team since joining the panel in 2002. Within a year of joining the team he had won his first Leinster Championship and All-Ireland titles, following wins over Wexford and Cork respectively. In 2004 Kilkenny were aiming to win a third All-Ireland title in-a-row, however, the team had a less than successful year as Kilkenny ended up without any major title. The team was back in 2005 with Ryall collecting his first National Hurling League medal, as well as a second Leinster title. Kilkenny were later defeated by Galway in a thrilling All-Ireland semi-final. In 2006 Ryall won his third Leinster medal, before later collecting his second All-Ireland medal following a win over Cork.

On September 8, 2010 speculations went around that Ryall was retiring from Inter-County hurling defeat by Tipperary, however it turned out originally that the report was misquoted. In December, 2010 Ryall confirmed his retirement from Inter-County hurling.