He captained the Kildare team during its most successful period in recent history, leading the Lilywhites to the 1998 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final and collecting Leinster medals in 1998 and again in 2000.
He played his club football with Round Towers, winning the county title with them three times.
In Ryan's first year in charge Longford were knocked out in the first round of the Leinster Senior Football Championship by Wicklow.
2011 started out well for Ryan and Longford when they beat Roscommon by 2–11 to 1–08 to take the National League Div 4 title.
Kildare followed that announcement with confirmation of the appointment of John Doyle, Dermot Earley Jnr and Anthony Rainbow as selectors.