top scorer in the 2002 Cork Senior Championship. He scored 2-36 from four championship appearances. Ronan played his club hurling with his local club in Ballyhea. He made his underage debut at the age of eight, and was quickly recognised as one of the club's brightest prospects. On 12 October 2014, Ronan was at centre-forward when Ballyhea defeated Newcestown by 1-17 to 0-16 to win the Cork Premier Intermediate Championship. The game was not without incident as Ronan was red-carded towards the end of the game. He was subsequently suspended for Ballyhea's Munster Championship campaign. After twenty years, Ronan played his last championship game for the club on 25 August 2015 in a 2-28 to 3-11 defeat by Imokilly in the 2015 Cork Senior Championship. Cork Minor and under-21 After lining out for Cork in the under-14 and under-16 grades, Ronan was later called up to the minor panel, making his only appearance at left corner-forward on 26 June 1996 in a 0-16 to 1-09 defeat by Tipperary in the Munster Minor Hurling Championship. Ronan subsequently progressed onto the Cork under-21 team and won a Munster Championship medal on 23 August 1998 after coming on as a substitute in Cork's 3-18 to 1-10 defeat of Tipperary in the final. He made the starting fifteen at right wing-forward for the subsequent 2-15 to 2-10 All-Ireland final defeat of Galway on 20 September. Senior Ronan was still a member of the under-21 team when he made his first appearance for the Cork senior team on 21 February 1999. He scored a point in Cork's 0-14 to 1-09 defeat of Kilkenny in the National Hurling League. Ronan made his first championship appearance when he was selected at full-forward on 8 June for Cork's 0-24 to 1-15 Munster Championship defeat of Waterford. On 4 July, he won his first Munster Championship medal after a 1-15 to 0-14 defeat of reigning champions Clare. On 11 September, Ronan was at left wing-forward for the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny which Cork won by 0-12 to 0-11. Ronan started at left wing-forward for Cork's first two championship games in the 2000 Munster Championship, however, he was dropped from the starting fifteen for the final on 3 July. In spite of this he won a second Munster Championship medal as a non-playing substitute following Cork's 0-23 to 3-12 defeat of Tipperary. On 14 July 2002, Ronan was at midfield