Clare's Conlon made of the right stuff 

By John Harrington

Clare defender, John Conlon, has been named the 2024 Hurling Personality of the Year by the Gaelic Writers’ Association.

As the name of the award suggests, it’s a recognition of more than just a hurler’s ability on the field of play.

That’s part of it, of course, but other qualities such as a player’s character, ability to inspire, and the way they carry themselves off the field as well as on it are also taken into account.

Easy to understand then why the selectors plumped for a natural born leader and genuinly nice guy like Conlon as their 2024 pick.

Hugely popular with both team-mates and supporters alike, he’s as genial as they come away from the game and an absolute warrior when a ball is thrown in.

At the age of 35 he was immense for Clare again this year at the heart of their defence. The quality of his performances were all the more impressive when you consider that he had to deal with considerable adversity off the pitch.

In the space of a couple of days last April his mother Bridget was seriously injured in a farmyard accident and his father Pat was diagnosed with cancer.

“Yeah, my mother was in a farm accident,” says Conlon. “We've a farm here at home and a cow was after calving, they've the cameras in the house, and she was looking on.

“My brother and father, Pat and Patrick, would be the main farmers.

“She saw the calf had rolled into the next pen and to get the beestings in you need to get the calf to suck within a certain period.

“She was trying to ring the brother and she couldn't get through to him.

“And she said, 'Sure look, I'll tip on up and try and see can I get the calf to go back inside and get it inside.'

“But sure the minute she opened up the gate, the cow bolted in around and obviously saw her then and rammed her and jammed her to the gate and two or three laps around her with her head on top of her and hitting her.

“She had a collapsed lung, was in intensive care for two weeks, had damage on her ribs and all that kind of stuff and looked like she'd had 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, you know?

“So that was a hard period for two or three weeks.

“And thankfully she's been super (since). She's pretty open to trying everything, she'll do all her exercises and everything that the doctors told her to do, she's done it, and she looks fantastic now and she's out the right side and, really recovered really quickly.

“So I was kind of slagging the father that, you know, I see now where I get my bit of strength or that will to fight on the field from, it comes from her, that's for sure!

“Then my father, he got diagnosed with prostate cancer the day before then she got hurt. He'd to get an operation on that, so the two of them were laid up for a long time, but thankfully, they got back to the semi-final (and) final, and great memories of the final.

“It was all there in April onwards, it was a hectic couple of months. Our house was nearly like an injury bay there at one stage, so trying to mind them and look after them and bring them to appointments and different things like that.

“But sure you'd do anything for your parents, and they did it for me long enough. Myself and the brother (Patrick) and (our) two wives Michelle and Elaine helped them out as much as possible.

“And thankfully know they're on the right side and all recovered and moving and flying around again. It was great to get them back to the semi-final and final, good moments and good pictures.”

11 years and a lot of heartache separated Conlon’s first All-Ireland win in 2013 with this year’s success, but that only made the win over Cork all the sweeter.

“I suppose when we won with Clare in 2013, obviously with all the U21 success, you just thought that, Jesus, we're going to be successful going forward,” says Conlon.

“That wasn't for not trying, we kept pushing the boundaries every year, but it just didn't seem to work.

“Two or three different managements and just things couldn't work.

“Since Brian has come in, he just brought that bit of steeliness to us and put a lot of ownership on the players, and the players took a lot of responsibility on. Got great lads around him to train the team, good S&C and the different aspects that are needed at inter-county.

“Everyone's just bought into it. I've often heard Shane O'Donnell say, I know we've all referenced this, the last three or four years have probably been the most enjoyable experiences playing on a hurling field for the Clare jersey. It's just because we've taken on the responsibility of the jersey.

“And the new championship, the way it is with the Munster championship, you get to play two games in Ennis every year, which are full, 18,000 people inside in Cusack Park is a cool experience for anyone, and it's just just a pure ground that everyone's in on top of you and we love playing there.

“People love, I suppose, Brian Lohan and they've got that massive affiliation with the team.

“Just to win this year then I suppose the relief of actually getting something to back up the great performances that we've performed over the last few years and actually back it up with two trophies is important for legacy and history.

“But the most important thing is that as a group, we've gone out and performed over the last number of years and been there or thereabouts every day.

“It was satisfying to get the medals and that's what you're judged on.

“And for that six or seven of us that have been there in 2013, just to get that satisfaction of getting a second one and join that group with '95, '97, it's a special one.”

It's hard to think of many hurlers or maybe any who have reinvented themselves as successfully as Conlon has.

A forward for most of his inter-county career, it looked like a huge gamble that many people didn’t think would pay off when Clare manager Brian Lohan decided he had what it took to be a centre-back at the highest level.

Some inter-county defenders have successfully transitioned to attack over the years, Brian Corcoran is the obvious one that comes to mind, but very few forwards have the instinct to be able to transform themselves from a poacher to a gamekeeper.

Conlon has done it with aplomb, establishing himself as one of the very best centre-backs centre in the game thanks to his physicality, ball-winning ability, and accurate distribution.

“I just do what I'm told,” says Conlon. “I'm just happy that I get to wear the Clare jersey. Whatever Brian Lohan wants me to do, I'll do it for him.

“It was a shock at the time, but I suppose the way the game has gone even, a half-back line, you're nearly setting up scores, scoring scores, like it's kind of changed a lot maybe to what it was ten years ago.

“Now you're kind of reading the game and lads are working back the field to help you out. Maybe before it was a one-on-one contest, now it's a different role, in terms of use of the ball. One thing looking forward from a coach's perspective is, I would always say nearly it's an advantage if you could play in the backs for a while or in the forwards, just to get and see different aspects of the game.

“I was lucky enough to play in the forwards and then understand things that I'd hate to happen to me or be able to read the game, well, this is where I'd move now if I thought it was coming.

“It's good, I suppose I'm using my forwards head in the backs now, when I play for the county and for the club I'm back up in the forwards again and trying to move a centre back out of the way.

“I got a totally different perspective since going back in the backs of how to move in the forwards. It's interesting and a cool thing to kind of observe and understand.

“Centre back now is a sort of position, some days you get loads of protection, some days you don't have protection the way hurling has gone. The ball is moving so quick and everyone's so slick now. If you’re giving away possession or the balls hitting the ground, people are giving out. If you're striking the ball away without looking, those days of hurling are probably gone.

“There was a running joke even this year, I'd say from Brian Lohan - 'Don't let John shoot because he can't shoot at all. I need to put number 11 up on his back'.

“It's funny when you go back to the backs, you kind of get into this brain freeze of you need to use the ball well. It's been a cool, very interesting period, and I suppose, brought something a new lease of life to me at 31.

“Rarely you see a guy going back the field at that age. It was a new lease of life. It brought a lot more enjoyment to my hurling down the latter stages and I'm forever grateful for Brian for thinking or the management for having the faith and putting me back there and trusting me because there was a lot of people at the start kind of giving out about it and saying it was a mad move. It turned out to be great thing for both of us.”

Conlon’s performance in the All-Ireland Final against Cork was arguably his most important ever in a Clare jersey.

His head-to-head battle with Shane Barrett was billed by many as a potential game-shaping one, and a common consensus was that the 35-year-old Conlon could struggle to live with the pace of the in-form Barrett who had scored 2-16 from play coming into the match.

When Barrett got clear of Conlon to score two early points in the final it looked like that forecast might be accurate, but thereafter the Clonlara man had the better of their tussle and was ultimately one of the most influential players on the pitch.

He admits himself now he was nervous about the challenge of subduing the fleet-footed Barrett.

“The players are so good now, a Shane Barrett type had a massive breakout year this year and was outstanding for Cork, one of the main reasons why they got to an All-Ireland in my opinion,” says Conlon.

“The level of detail that had gone in to try and stop him because I remember below in Pairc Ui Chaoimh first day that we played, he got once or twice on runs, and I was like, Jesus I can't let that happen in the All-Ireland final, the pace he has is blistering.

“He's going to be a super Cork hurler going forward for years to come and it was a massive challenge.

“I'm not one to get nervous, but yeah I was anxious going into that final.

“It was just all week you were hearing that you were going to be taken to the cleaners and you were too slow and you weren't going to be fast enough for him. I suppose it was a challenge that you had to take on.

“And thankfully, just on the day things ran for me at times and that happened for the whole team. We were just delighted to come out on the right side because we'd have had many near misses for the last number of years where we could have come out on the right side of matches and were that point or two on the wrong side. This time, thankfully, we were on the right side of that point or two.”

Conlon turns 36 in January but is happy to make himself available for selection again as Clare bid to win back to back All-Ireland titles for the first time in the county’s history.

“Yeah, yeah look I'm injury free, came through a club campaign so yeah if Brian gives me the call, I'll be back alright.”

You can be sure Brian Lohan will make that call.

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The 2024 Gaelic Writers' Awards are sponsored by the Dalata Hotel Group. Read more on all of this year's winners HERE.