*Clonlara’s John Conlon. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
JOHN CONLON’s contribution to the community of Clonlara and to hurling across the county has always been exemplary so in a way it is fitting that he stands alone as the only Clonlara man to have won two Clare senior championships.
From the off, John settled the Clonlara charges converting two points in the opening seven minutes as Donal Madden’s side recorded a 3-18 2-16 win over Crusheen to lift the Canon Hamilton for the third time.
Rewind fifteen years and John was at centre forward again when they defeated Newmarket-on-Fergus 1-12 1-9 under the stewardship of Jim Gully to bridge an eighty nine year gap. Ironically he wore number eleven for both finals and finished the hour with 0-2.
What followed were defeats in 2009, 2015 and 2016 after a replay so returning to the summit of club hurling in the county was of immense satisfaction to Conlon.
It felt so good that it was hard to believe, he admitted. “It is just disbelief, I stood alongside Ian and Colm there, the hugs were more about finally getting over the line, there is so many semi-finals and finals lost, people say we underachieve but for a small club that was only sixteen years ago at intermediate so to win the senior title in 2008 was maybe disbelief at the time.
“Over the last fifteen years there’s been a lot of hurt but it’s a new team formed over the last four or five years ago, those young lads are just a breath of fresh air and you know that in any club when you’ve that coming through there is no bit of fear in them, I’m the older wise head around the younger gang and it is just great that they’ve rowed in behind everything this year, from a man one to thirty and the management team led by Donal it has just been a super year from start to finish, it is great to see something like that flourish as the year has gone on. I’m still in disbelief because it is not something I thought was going to happen at the start of the year”.
When informed that he was the only Clonlara man to have ever won the Clare senior hurling championship as a player on two occasions, Conlon let out a laugh. “I would have done anything to win another one, it’s nice to have a photograph with your brother (Patrick) and re-enact a photo with all the cousins that I soldiered with and won with back in 2008, it was disbelief”.
Their hard-work all year came to the fore in the final in holding off a Crusheen fightback. “Down the home stretch, we said we needed to work harder and we did, we saw it which is a great thing because Crusheen threw everything at us, finals are like that, they are going to go in different directions at different times, Crusheen gave it everything and went for it, we worked really hard but we’re just delighted”.
Just twenty four hours prior to Clonlara’s win, John was part of the management team for the Truagh/Clonlara senior camogie team as they overcame Inagh/Kilnamona following extra time to advance to the county final.
While he was starring at centre-forward, his wife Michelle was to the fore at centre-back on the team which is managed by her father Bob. “The wife Michelle was really happy last night so it was an easy house to be in, it will be super for the week. I’m delighted for them because they’ve been through a hard year with lots of injuries to a lot of main players within the team, that is what family is all about, the manager of the camogie team Eamonn and Bob who keep dragging me in, it is a super achievement for them, three finals in a row, they’ve to knuckle down hard and be back here in six days’ time. It is great for the parish, the place is electric and it makes the winter short”.
