EARLY on Sunday morning a small fleet of buses will leave Ennis in County Clare and make their way to Dublin to view an historic appearance by one of their own.

For when Barry Ryan lines up in goal for St Patrick's Athletic in their FAI Cup final meeting with Derry City, he will be the first person from the Banner County to play in the Blue Riband of domestic soccer.

It will be a special day for those who make the journey to Lansdowne Road but for Ryan it is tinged with sadness because of someone who won't be there.

His dad Noel, a former Cork Celtic player, would have been proud to see his son receive the fruits of his labour. Yet on Sunday morning, before travelling to Dublin, the rest of the Ryan family will attend a Mass to mark the second anniversary of his death.

"It's a big day for me on Sunday," admits Ryan. "I'm the first Clareman to play in an FAI Cup final and it's my dad's Mass. For my family and my friends at home, it will mean a lot.

"The rumour at home is that half the town will be there. There's a bus from a few local pubs and one from a GAA club and the rugby club. I managed to get home last weekend and everyone said they'd be coming up for it."

A trip to a soccer match will be a novelty for people from that part of the world.

Ryan grew up in the '90s when Ger Loughnane's Clare hurling side ruled the roost. In such an atmosphere, the garrison game had little chance.

Talented youths never really got the opportunity to push themselves forward. Scouts from Dublin rarely ventured to see what was available.

Ryan knew guys with as much ability as him who never even got a look in and now ply their trades on junior soccer pitches every weekend.

"Hurling was the dominant force in the 90s," recalls Ryan. "They were winning All-Irelands. Sure, in school we had a soccer team but it was all about the hurling, it took over everything.

"So people never came down to watch us. People from Dublin might go to Limerick and Cork to have a look, but rarely to Clare. I'm the only high profile soccer one really. Myself and my dad and that's it."

Luckily, though, the late Dr Tony O'Neill spotted a young Ryan as a 17-year-old and offered him a scholarship in UCD. It was a path to a different world.

At home in Clare, Ryan had worked all sorts of odd jobs. Working as a milkman, on the 6am beat around the back roads of Ennis in the driving rain. Working as a roofer. Delivering for Finches. He did the lot.

Belfield was a different life altogether. As he admits himself, he lived a lazy enough existence apart from the soccer. And he made the most of the social life as well, a statement that brings a wry smile.

Eventually, he broke into the first team and made his name, being named as the Eircom League's goalkeeper of the 2002/3 season.

Then came a move to Shamrock Rovers, which turned sour when he was handed a nine-month ban from the game when he tested positive for recreational drug use.

Officially it was Benzoylecgonine - a metabolite of cocaine. "I made a mistake," acknowledges Ryan, "and I put my hands up at the time. I've left it all in the past."

Yet the experience inspired him to turn over a new leaf. After a brief stint with Dublin City, Johnny McDonnell convinced him to come to Pat's and, for the first time in his career, he became a full-time footballer.

"I eat properly now and I do everything right. I've had to mature a lot. If I lived now the way I used to when I was at UCD, well, I wouldn't be here today.