Power of the collective keeps Conlon forever young

John Conlon is the elder statesman of the Clare team in his 16th year of senior inter-county hurling but the Clonlara titan is kept young by those around him within the set up writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh.

There aren’t many players who last the test of time by getting to play senior championship hurling in three decades, but that John Conlon has managed this feat is a testament to his endurance, longevity and ability to better himself into his mid-30s.
It’s All-Ireland final week and as the elder statesman of the side the Clonlara titan has seen it all in his 16 years since stepping up to the senior ranks after the 2008 Under 21 campaign.
That he’s still there and a rock on which Brian Lohan has built his team over the past five years is easy to understand. Attitude. Humbleness. In Brian Lohan’s own likeness in many ways.
Then there’s the fact that the primary school teacher in St Aidan’s in Shannon, which of course is synonymous with Ger Loughnane, is still a student at heart. Always the student when it comes to hurling. Learning. Improving. Chasing those percentages, as he calls the modern-day life of an inter-countyman.
“When I started back in 2009 it was more training for the sake of training,” he muses.  “Now everything is scrutinised to the finer detail, from nutrition to psychology, to data analysis to see if you can find any little percentage out of yourself and as a collective and as a group and if you find a few extra percentages then that goes a long way for the player and the group as a whole.
“I love to compete. If it’s playing cards or playing ping-pong at home I love to compete, you’re going to compete for it and you want to win. I love to be able to go into training and that drive of being able to go up against that young 19-year-old and trying to compete and be as good as you can possibly be.
“I love that thing of going out every day and training yourself to be a better person on and off the field, having that growth mindset. That’s important.
“The young players keep you youthful and inspire you. They all have some different bit of an energy and aspect to life that keeps you on your toes. Hopefully I inspire them too in some way.
“That’s what being team-mates is all about and that’s the joy of having youth around you. It keeps you inspired and keeps you wanting to achieve more and it’s a great thing in Clare.
“I had a great career and gone after all the little percentages and inches and really enjoyed it. If I can still add value, which I think I am at the moment, I’ll do it. You know when you’re not adding value and the door is open then to leave.”
The door to a new chapter in his hurling journey opened in 2021 when Brian Lohan handed Conlon the number six jersey. Yeah, he’d played there before at club level during Clonlara’s run to the county final in 2015, but at inter-county level? Really?
“It was a shock when he first mentioned it to me after coming back from that Covid year,” he admits, “but like any challenge that I’ve ever had in life I have always embraced it. I studied and learned a lot in the first few games.
“I think the first game we lost to Antrim up in Antrim and I remember coming off the field and thinking ‘I’m after playing in a new position and played my first game in nearly 12 months after coming back from a cruciate injury’.
“I was taking it game by game and taking ownership of the position and making it as good as it can possibly be. There were great lads alongside me like David McInerney and Diarmuid Ryan and we are great to bounce ideas off each other and work as a group.
“The great thing about that half-back line is that we have been there for four or five years as a group and kind of know each other inside out and enjoy each other’s company and try to make each other better on and off the field.”
The result is that four years later he’s the current All-Star centre-back and amongst a select band of players with gongs in defence and attack – now it’s to be an All-Ireland winner in defence and attack, a distinction that even a more select grouping has achieved down the years.
Brian Cody has done it; so too Brian Corcoran and Tommy Walsh, while Kyle Hayes is the most recent example of trading places.
“It would be super to crown it off with another All-Ireland coming out the latter end of my career,” he says.
“I started out my career winning a 21 All-Ireland and Munster, a county intermediate and senior championships.
“I won a nice few things at the start and had a big barren period before winning a county title last year.
“It’s always easy to go back when you know that you’re not far away. Since Brian has taken over the group we have gotten better year on year.
“He has done a fantastic job in getting the fans and county in behind us. The level of support that’s there for us is second to none and he’s done a super job as manager.
“All you have to do is look at the accolades he has achieved himself on the field and off it. He is a real special person and we all love playing for him. That’s the most important thing as a group.
“We have been very consistent over the last few years and been very resilient and to get back to an All-Ireland final is a massive achievement for everyone in County Clare. But we want to go out now and win it.”
If it happens Conlon and a few others would stand apart – not only in Clare but in All-Ireland.
His fellow All-Ireland final starters this Sunday in David McInerney, Shane O’Donnell and Tony Kelly all played and started in the 2013 win, as did sub Séadna Morey who came on as a late sub that September 28th Saturday night.
No other hurler has ever straddled 11 years between All-Ireland victories and it would be a testament to their belief that it could happen and their lasting of the course if that piece of hurling history is theirs come 5pm on Sunday.
“If we can bring something like we brought in the second half against Kilkenny then we’re in with every chance,” says Conlon. “The second half was as good as we’ve played all year.
“I am really proud of what we produced to come out on the right side of it, especially after the last two years – not performing in 2022 and then coming out last year and going so close.
“We learned from those mistakes coming down the home stretch and saw the game out. Especially near the end, the ball that came into the square from Richie Reid. It was a really dangerous ball, but the photo of that moment really defined the team in terms of the resilience that has been shown over the last number of years to come back from defeats.
“It was a massive achievement by the group. There was a huge amount of bodies – a lot of big bodies by Kilkenny too and Eibhear, myself and everyone who was under it were putting our bodies on the line and it certainly wasn’t going into the back of the net if we could do anything about it. Thankfully it didn’t.
“It was great to see Diarmuid flick it out to Ryan and no better man than Ryan to take it up the wing and relieve the pressure.
“There was a great elation in the stadium for all Clare people, to be back in a final is just an amazing feeling. Now we want to finish the job. We just have to go after our own performance and make sure we perform to the best of our abilities.”
John Conlon knows that if Clare do this that the Banner will be raised and the Liam McCarthy will be in Ennis on Monday night. He’s convinced.