Almost two years ago to the day since his last Munster Championship outing, John Conlon returned in commanding fashion to captain Clare to victory in Semple Stadium.
Going from being a chief target to defensive anchor made the 2018 All-Star’s comeback all the sweeter as Clare exacted revenge on Waterford’s for last year’s All-Ireland Quarter-Final exit.
“It was really sweet. I hadn’t played a championship game in two years so I just said leaving home today that I was going to enjoy every last minute of it. I got a bad injury last year and all I kept saying in my head was ‘hopefully I’ll get to play another championship game.’
“Thankfully today was fantastic. We knew we were coming into it in the right frame of mind as training was super over the last few weeks. And we started to pick up results as well which was good for morale so everyone seemed to be coming right at the right time so to win was great.
“I knew this was coming, I’ve never seen the warm-up as sharp. I don’t think there was a ball dropped and you knew from the warm-up that that intensity was coming and in fairness to the management, they got all their pre-match analysis of Waterford spot on.
“They’ve done a super job this year so far.”
And his new position at the heart of defence?
“I loved it. At the start of the year, Brian [Lohan] just asked would I be up to it. I kind of doubted myself having played as a forward all of my life but I said I’d give it a go and rise to the challenge.
“After the first game or two, I was doing fine. I wasn’t exactly setting the world alight but the management stuck with me there and I’ve kind of grown into the role ever since.
“In the first two games, every time I won a ball I was trying to get out through, play like a forward and take the man on.
“In the backs, you’re not always going to get out so you’ve to try and think a bit differently and sometimes be composed on the ball and see what your options are.
“Being a forward, I’m not afraid to hit shots or hit passes. Often a back will get a nosebleed if he goes too far. That won’t happen to me anyway.
“I’ve been saying that to the backs, just be composed, use the ball well and I think we have. We’ve been going between short and long. We’re varying it up which is great so it’s very hard to close us down.”
“We’ve just tried to make it the toughest defence we could over the last few weeks and I think we’ve done that. It’s a different approach but I suppose I can also give our own backs pointers too on how a forward thinks, likes and dislikes.”
With an opening victory under their belts, Conlon will lead his Clare side out into battle once more this Sunday when taking on neighbours Tipperary in the Munster Semi-Final.
“You’re going to be nearly playing week-on-week again because of the short time frame but it’s great to have that kind of cutting edge to a championship game again.
“Matches are what we want so it’s all about recovering for the week and look forward to going again next Sunday.”

by Eoin Brennan