Richie Ryan is in no doubt as to the identity of the most gifted footballer he ever played with - Sligo Rovers legend Joseph N’Do.
Ryan teamed up with the Cameroon World Cup star in 2010 and 2011 when they partnered up together in midfield.
“He’s still the best player I’ve ever played with. Joe was on a different level altogether,” said the Tipperary native.
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“He was so good at dictating the game. He just gave confidence to everybody around him with the things he said and the way he played.
“You could give the ball to Joe in any situation and he wasn’t going to give it away.
“He’s just a good person too, a really bubbly character, and he always made time for everybody.
“He came into that locker room, a younger locker room at the time, we were all 24 or 25 at the time and Joe was 34 or 35. He gelled into the group, he had a laugh.
“Joe had the instant respect of all the players. He basically empowered every player around him, giving them so much confidence, telling them how good they were.
“We all wanted that trust from Joe because we all knew how good he was. We all gravitated to him and he was brilliant.”
Ryan credits N’Do and another veteran, Jim Laughlin, with turning the club into a serial trophy-winning outfit.
“Jim came halfway through 2009 and he was the ultimate professional, an out and out defender, and into the protein shakes and gym,” said the former midfielder.
“Once we saw Joseph being the professional he was and Jim as well, it dragged the best out of the rest of us.
“We’d been a team of underachievers for a couple of years before that, but they brought the best out of us.
“We still enjoyed our weekends, because Cookie (Paul Cook) would encourage it, but during the week we were the ultimate professionals.
“Joe was a special talent who was capable of doing anything with a football.”
Ryan has two FAI Cup winners’ medals from his time with the Bit O’ Red, although suspension robbed him of a chance to play in the 2010 penalty shootout win against Shamrock Rovers.
“One of the main highlights was the 2011 FAI Cup final, just getting a chance to go back to the Aviva after missing out the year before through suspension,” he said of the win over Shelbourne.
“It was a bit weird that it went through the same scenario as the year before, the penos, I sort of felt like I had a chance to live what the lads lived a year earlier.
“You don’t really feel the same when you don’t play in a final.”
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