*Conor Leen in action for Corofin against Colm Flynn. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
INJURY HEARTACHE has been put behind Conor Leen and it has helped him fully absorb the joy of Corofin’s return to the Clare senior hurling championship.
Leen missed out on Corofin’s intermediate football success two years ago with his on the field involvement greatly reduced in 2021 and 2022 but this year has seen him play a pivotal role as the North Clare club claimed the Paddy Browne Cup.
Part of the side which won Minor A and U21A titles with Corofin/Ruan in recent seasons, Conor said it was important they maximised the younger talent in their ranks. “We’ve put a lot of hard work in over the last few years, this is a good generation coming through and we wanted to win it, we’ve lads going away abroad so we’ll have to wait and see how next year in the senior championship goes but we’ll give Munster a good crack and hopefully go far in that”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Leen referenced the hamstring and quad injuries which kept him sidelined for much longer than he’d like in recent years. “I’m delighted to get back on the field, it is always where I wanted to be, I’ve been struggling year after year with injuries, I kept coming back but I’d lose my place through injury but I must thank my physios, Clem Neville helped me in the last year a lot so I’d like to thank them for putting the time and effort into getting me back, I’ve put all the work in myself but I needed them to help me and guide me in the right direction?
He continued, “they have a slow recovery process but I took the time and did everything right, there was a few unlucky times when fatigue and stuff caught me but I followed the process”.
To get back on the field has made him embrace the success that bit more. “I love being back on the field, I missed out two years ago when the lads won the intermediate football championship so I’m delighted to be back playing alongside the lads I’ve grown up with”.
Workrate and shooting efficiency was the key difference between them and Sixmilebridge on Saturday, Conor maintained. “In the second half they missed a few scores that they should have got and it just kept us in the lead till the end. In the first half we came out very strong and got a five point lead, we kept that throughout the whole game, that and the workrate from the lads was phenonmenal especially from the lads in the forwards”.
This year Conor was part of Brian Lohan’s Clare senior hurling panel having been with Terence Fahy’s U20 set up in 2022. “It has been a dream of mine to play with the seniors, I’m delighted to have got a year under the belt and hopefully there will be many more years to go. It has brought me on so much confidence wise, U20s last year my confidence grew so much but I suffered from a hamstring injury but my confidence went through the roof because of being on the panel and it was showing in my game too”.
Dual senior status may pose challenges but Conor is confident they can meet them head-on. “We’ll give senior a good crack next year, there will be a lot of work put in especially being a dual-senior club now which is phenomenal for such a small club, most of our lads play hurling and football so it will be a tough year but we’ll try get everything right leading into it so hopefully we will give a good competition in both senior championships”.
