*John Conlon. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
Self-professed as the “elder statesman” of the Clare side, centre back, John Conlon was grinning in Semple Stadium after they completed the task of backing up their impressive start to the Munster SHC.
Speaking after the team’s impressive win over Cork he said, “We agreed this week that we needed to back up last week’s performance today and we certainly did that”.
“We can play a lot of different games, different styles. We are trying to combine everything and come with different attacks. We have two weeks now to prepare for Limerick which is going to be a huge task”.
The former Clare captain went on to say “Brian (Lohan) is a super manager, he is the same type of manager as he was when he was playing, a very quite unassuming person but when championship day comes a new animal comes out. We love that and we really buy into it and no better man to be leading us”.
Asked about his switch from attack to defence the Clonlara clubman said, “I have settled in after the last two years. Today we put down a marker from the word go. We have come to Thurles a lot in the 14 years I have been playing and its rare that we have come out with a win against Cork”.
Reflecting on the one week break between their first round win over Tipperary and Sunday’s game he said “there were a lot of sore bodies on Tuesday after the game against Tipp and we didn’t do much on Friday but, in fairness, the management got it right. We zoned in or everything that we did wrong last year in Limerick. Everything we worked on during the week worked today and we are delighted to get over the line”.
“Who doesn’t want to play in Thurles, the field of dreams, the Clare crowd are coming back. We heard them up on the hill there and I hadn’t heard that in a long time. Momentum is building, it is building within the group, great bonds are being built; As the elder statesman in the team, I am really enjoying the youth and the energy around the group”.
He went on to say “we were eleven up and the sending off came and we said we needed to build the ball after the sending off. We did play so well and got three or four great scores. Lads were making runs off the shoulder, we changed the game we were playing. Our backs to the wall near the end and we would probably be disappointed with the last five or six minutes”.
Conlon added, “training has gone really well since the league. Shane and Peter came back, Things were buzzing over that five weeks, things were coming right. Today we wanted to build on last week and we did that. We focus on each game as it comes. This round robin suits us, week in week out. We have two home games to come and next up it’s Limerick. They will bring a massive crowd as they usually do. We are looking forward to it”.
