They were ships that passed in the night nine summers ago. One of them was the right side of 20, the other the wrong side of 30. One was in his first season at inter-county level, the other in his last. One of them, being young and knowing his place, didn't say a lot at the time, even if there's no stopping him these days; the other didn't say a lot at the best of times.

Nine years on, it's not that Lar Corbett recalls anything in particular that Declan Ryan, the spiritual director of that Tipperary team, had to say for himself in 2001. It's more a memory of the presence of the man, his aura, the way in which he led by deed rather than by word. "Very quiet, very unassuming," Corbett says. "Very good to look after those of us beside him in the full-forward line. Some older players might be hard on young guys, but not Declan. Any time we made a mistake he was always encouraging us. 'Next ball, next ball.' He never said anything out of the way, and everything he said made sense."

Ryan a future Tipperary manager? It wouldn't have struck them at the time. At any rate, it would have struck them as less likely than the notion of Tommy Dunne, the captain in 2001, as a future Tipperary coach. Although RTÉ jumped the gun on Six One last Wednesday and ran the story of the Ryan/Dunne ascension without verifying it with county board officials, they weren't far off the mark; good progress had been made in negotiations by that stage and the dual appointment is expected this week.

The logical is unimpeachable. Ryan succeeded Liam Sheedy as minor manager and led Tipperary, the reigning champions, to an All Ireland at the first time of asking. Now Ryan succeeds Sheedy as senior manager and – well, the dots are easily joined. A man who won All Ireland medals in three decades with the county joined by, as coach, the last man before Eoin Kelly to captain them to the MacCarthy Cup: if this pair can't succeed, as they did in the same roles with the minors in 2007, who can? There's even a marmalade-coloured cat called Declan Ryan residing in Clonmel, the property of a fanatical Tipp fan.

What will be a matter both of interest and of some importance, and what may have delayed an official announcement up to now, is the identity of the third member of the management team. He doesn't have to be a big name. In fact, by dint of the profiles and playing records of the new manager and coach, it would be better were he quite the opposite. Ryan is quiet, though the members of the 2007 minor team confirm that he was well able to get his point across and that when he spoke – softly – they listened. Dunne is more intense and deep-thinking than most players. If ever a management team needed a jovial character by way of balance, a kind of latterday equivalent of Tony Considine to Loughnane and Mike Mac, this is it. Anyone know what Joe Hayes is doing with himself these days?

For some of the older hands the appointment cannot be finalised quickly enough. Considering their status as All Ireland winners they were less buoyant than might have been expected at the All Stars last month, still not quite recovered from the news of Liam Sheedy's departure – one Tipp player hadn't had the stomach for work the following day, such was his dismay at the announcement – and anxious that his successor be named sooner rather than later. All Ireland medallists, it seems, abhor a vacuum.

With the county board keen to stress that they'd take their time and make the right decision rather than being hurried into making a potentially wrong choice, the job was Nicky English's to turn down (and credit must go to the board for giving him first refusal). In the event he gave the offer serious consideration, so much so that he would have accepted it had he been able to rearrange his working schedule to accommodate. But this is no climate for someone with an important bank job to be serving two masters.

Disappointing as the outcome was, it may work out for the best. English has, after all, done the state more than merely "some" service, and in a way it comes almost as a relief that he will not be risking the tarnishing of his legacy. Those clips of him celebrating with his players at the final whistle in 2001 will remain forever fresh, impervious to mildew and to the potential vagaries of a second coming. Just imagine the reaction in Tipperary, for instance, had English taken the job and failed to win next year's All Ireland with the resources, among them this season's victorious Dunne-coached under-21s, at his disposal. It is not only in regard to human relationships that the words "never go back" make sense.

Even when they were with the minors, Ryan and Dunne were clearly destined for bigger things. Three years ago at the Gaelic Grounds, the curtain raiser to the second replay between Limerick and Tipperary was the provincial minor semi-final meeting of the same counties. Watching the manager and coach head for the dressing room about half an hour before the throw-in of the first game, one Tipp fan in conversation with a Top County Official was moved to remark, "I'd be happier if they were going into the senior dressing room." Hopelessly compromised, the Top County Official could only respond with a wry smile.

In terms of workload the Tipperary job does not come freighted with the sheer volume that obtained over the past three seasons; Sheedy, Michael Ryan and Eamon O'Shea have done the heavy digging. The goalposts have moved significantly in one respect, however. Under Sheedy, Tipp coped with failure. Under his successor they'll be required to cope with success. It is not the same thing. Which players are hungry – truly, burningly hungry – for more? Which players are, deep down, satisfied with what they've achieved? Which players have spent so much of themselves this past year or two that they may have less to give than they imagine? A talent for subtle diplomacy will be one prerequisite for the new manager, a Codyesque realisation that past success is no guarantee of future performance another.

Perhaps it's in the nature of hurling folk, Lar Corbett muses, that people "are always trying to get ahead of themselves. Who's going to win next year's All Ireland? It nearly starts the moment this year's All Ireland is over."

Tipperary's 2011 campaign didn't actually begin at 5pm on 5 September. It begins this week instead.

emcevoy@tribune.ie