*Feakle’s Ronan O’Connor. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
RONAN O’Connor has led his county into battle this year, but the Clare U20 hurling captain and former St. Joseph’s Tulla captain will be glad of the leaders around him in Sunday’s county final.
The young Feakle man has played all but two minutes of his side’s championship campaign, he needed a quick blood-sub against Cratloe in Round 1. He fired over four points that day and has scored in all five games from midfield or wing back en route to the decider.
“I do my best,” he told The Clare Echo after training in Caherlohan the weekend before the final which become a bit of a base for Feakle’s preparations. The floodlights allow them to train on October nights and they’ve made full use of the facilities. “There’s guys here and it’s their fifteenth or sixteenth year with Feakle so they do bear a lot of the leadership. Oisín Donnellan is our captain. He’s a brilliant captain and you’ve got a lot of older guys who’ve got a lot of experience”.
The squad isn’t short of silverware. Leaving aside the ‘24 All-Ireland medals and the ‘22 Harty Cup medals, all their starters are former intermediate champions (2014, 2018), U21A champions (2017, 2023) or both.
But this is senior hurling. Their opponents on Sunday have more medals than most. And there’s a whole parish dreaming of rekindling the fires of 1988. So are they gone ape in Feakle? “I think they’re treating us normally enough,” says O’Connor. “We’re certainly trying to treat it like a normal game. I don’t think people would be too intrusive that way. Obviously we’re not naïve, there’s a lot of hype around it. But we just know that we have to look at the 60 minutes of hurling. Anything else, we’re just going to get side tracked.”
“When we sat down at the start of the championship, there was little point in us saying we wanted to win the county final. That’s practically no good to anyone. You need to set out your stall first. We got to a semi-final last year and we totally underperformed so going into this year, the overall objective was to right that wrong. That’s the macro, but we really looked at the micro in terms of training and performing in games”.
Not only will O’Connor rely on his teammates on Sunday, he’ll look to stay inside the bubble as much as possible on the lead-in. “I like to stay within the group. I find it handy. We’re training Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I think our Juniors are playing Thursday so I’ll go and watch that. I keep my routine pretty similar and focus on the basics of nutrition, sleep and hydration. I suppose I have the knowledge that the work is done. Myself and the team have been training all year so there’s no need to do anything drastic the week of a final”.
The bloodlines between the Feakle teams of 1988 and 2024 are strong. And whatever about
the game itself, Ronan says Feakle’s hurling DNA hasn’t changed much in 36 years. “After the last game, a good few of that 1988 team came into the dressing room to congratulate us. They are fully behind us.
“It’s natural that the style of play would have evolved over that time and I’m sure it was a lot more direct back then. Nowadays, there’s a lot more emphasis on keeping the ball and playing through the lines. I think the hurling principles of their team and our team are still the same. You’re representing your parish. You’ve to work as hard as possible and you have to be willing to die for the badge,” he said.
Feakle aren’t short of motivation. The challenge might be ensuring the fire in their bellies doesn’t spread out of control. “A lot of times, finals do take on a life of their own,” say Ronan with a wisdom beyond his years.
“They can get a bit hectic so that’s when you need to go back to your basics and your principals of how you want to play. There’s going to be emotion. And you need elements of that to get you over the line, but I think the most important thing is sticking to the game plan and keeping cool heads where possible”.
Ronan O’Connor may not captain this team, but he sounds primed to lead by example on county final day.
