At club level he played with Borris–Ileigh and was also a member of the Tipperary senior hurling team.
He progressed onto the club's senior team and won a Mid Tipperary SHC title in 1949, before later being a part of the club's first team to win the Tipperary SHC title.
He joined the senior team in 1950 and, after winning a Munster SHC medal, lined out at wing-forward when Tipperary beat Wexford in the 1951 All-Ireland final.
His brother, Ned Ryan and future brother-in-law, Pat Stakelum, were all part of Tipperary's three-in-a-row team from 1949 to 1951.
[5] Ryan died after a period of ill health on 26 February 1996, at the age of 72.