LAST UPDATE | 2 Jun 2022
NOWLAN PARK on 7 November 2020.
The empty stands devoid of fans was the backdrop for an All-Ireland qualifier with a difference as the strange winter hurling championship continued.
Clare reignited their campaign, scraping through by a point against a Laois team consigned to the exit door.
That was the key outcome. If it was a game that seemed largely routine, the afternoon did serve as a personal milestone for one participant.
Playing at left corner-back for Clare with the number four jersey on his back was Paul Flanagan. A first senior championship start at the age of 28.
His top level championship career up to that point amounted to a pair of appearances off the bench in July 2014, twice in the space of a week against Wexford.
He came on in the 87th minute in extra-time in the drawn game in Ennis and then played from the start of extra-time in the replay in Wexford Park, as part of Clare’s restoration to 15 men after having two players sent off in normal time.
It added up to 23 minutes of action before the Laois game. Even if injury time is factored in, it still falls just short of a half hour of hurling experience amongst the elite in high summer.
Now it has all changed.
Approaching Sunday’s Munster final, Semple Stadium set to heave with fans as Clare and Limerick square off in the decider for the first time in 27 years, and Flanagan has nailed down that corner-back berth.
The Laois game was his solitary appearance in the 2020 championship but last year he started all four of Clare’s outings and then their first three round-robin games this season. That is seven championship ties in a row where he has settled down in the full-back line alongside Rory Hayes and Conor Cleary, offering Clare a bedrock of reliability.
Clare whipped Waterford last time out, Flanagan sitting it out alongside luminaries like John Conlon and Tony Kelly as Brian Lohan shuffled his starting pack with the team already qualified for the Munster final.
But a few months shy of his 30th birthday, the defender has moved into the status of county regular.
“The first thing I’d say, is it couldn’t happen to a nicer fella,” says Robbie Hogan, Flanagan’s club manager at Ballyea, the outfit that have emerged a senior hurling powerhouse in the county.
“He’s the epitome of sticking with something and putting in hard work. Just injuries and other fellas being in better form, but he never gave in. He has really nailed down the spot.”
It is significant to note that Flanagan is not new to the county game.
Remember that golden era of Clare underage success? He was immersed in it. Munster minor winning captain in 2010, they only missed out on the Irish Press Cup by two points against Kilkenny.
In 2012 amends were made at U21 level, Flanagan corner-back in the win over Kilkenny. A year later he captained Clare to another U21 All-Ireland title, their beating of Antrim sandwiched by the two senior thrillers against Cork that September. For the epic replay win that landed the Liam MacCarthy Cup, Flanagan was number 26 on the panel, racing around Croke Park that Saturday evening in celebration with his team-mates.
Plenty of his contemporaries in the underage ranks pushed on. Look at the names. Morey, Galvin, Kelly, Malone and Collins from the 2010 minors. McInerney, O’Connor, Ryan, Golden, Cunningham, McInerney and McGrath involved with the 2012 U21s. Browne, Duggan and O’Donnell involved in the 2013 U21 success. Players that racked up appearances as the years rolled on for the Clare seniors.
Flanagan’s route just took a little longer.
He drifted in and out of matchday squads at times, then plain misfortune hit him elsewhere. In 2016 he was flying early on. Started every game as Clare won the pre-season competition against Limerick and then reached the league final.
Then just before that decider against Waterford, he was ruled out with concussion and the rest of the summer was a write-off.
In 2018, as Clare were in the thick of the championship action, a knee problem had been bothering Flanagan and it eventually required surgery.
Getting on top of those fitness issues has been key for the PE and Irish teacher in Ardscoil Rís.
“It’s a real testament to his character,” says Hogan.
“I think one of the first lads he’d praise is Adrian O’Brien. a Limerick man, he’d have been involved with Ardscoil helping out with S&C programmes. Paul got to know Adrian well and he helped him deal with injuries. It was through Paul that I met Adrian who came on board with Ballyea as the S&C coach last year.
“I think Adrian really tidied up all the injuries, just got the balanced programme for what Paul needed to get his performance right. He has learned.
“He would often message me before training and say, ‘I might do the ball wall this evening Rob’, rather than do the full session. He just has learned not to ignore his body. It isn’t all about a huge volume of sessions, it’s the quality, the rest and recovery. That’s come with experience. He’s an intelligent guy as well.”
Hogan steered Ballyhea to their magical Clare and Munster breakthrough in 2016, pushing on to the All-Ireland the following March where the strength of Cuala overpowered them. He wasn’t at the helm for Ballyea’s second win in 2018, a victory Flanagan missed through that knee problem, but Hogan again witnessed the defender’s capabilities for last year’s final triumph over Inagh-Kilnamona.
“Similar to Tony last year with the ankle injury, Paul took a strong leadership role in the training in 2018. Very good lad on the line, a big part of the management setup when he wasn’t able to play. He captained us when we won the Senior B in 2013, he’s great leadership qualities.
“Paul’s speed is massive. His first touch is good as what I’ve seen in the county nearly like a corner-forward playing corner-back. He attacks the ball at pace. Usually in our full-back line Paul picks up the biggest threat. He’s quite happy in that role. In the Munster final we played Glen Rovers and Patrick Horgan was held scoreless from play.
A shift in approach off the pitch has helped. Flanagan returned to study at University of Limerick and completed a Masters Degree in Mental Health, Mental Skills and Performance Psychology in 2020.
“We often would have spoken about it, for years he was maybe trying too hard,” says Hogan.
“Maybe over-thinking things, over-analysing games, over-critical of himself. Various injuries hampered him but he never lost his focus, which is a good sign of a lad.
“He’s a very easy chap to get on with. It’s probably his greatest quality, his ability to get on with people across all age groups. Very involved with the underage in Ballyea, when the time allowed him when he was injured and that. Very understanding of young lads and very well thought of in Ballyea.”
Flanagan is immersed in the sport. He has done punditry work for TG4’s coverage of games. Since starting teaching in Ardscoil Rís, he has been at the core of their hurling activities. In March they ended a long pursuit of the Croke Cup, acclaimed as All-Ireland champions when they dislodged St Kieran’s.
Flanagan coached the team alongside ex-Limerick senior Niall Moran and Clonlara’s Cormac O’Donovan, the Clare match-winner in the 2009 All-Ireland U21 final.
The years in Ardscoil have enabled Flanagan to witness the modern rise of Limerick and the intrigue of Clare’s relationship with the All-Ireland champions. The Clare-Limerick rivalry also extends to family links. Paul’s first cousin is Seamus Flanagan, a forward John Kiely entrusts with attacking responsibilities for Limerick. Their fathers, Johnny and Eamonn, are from the Feohanagh-Castlemahon club in West Limerick.
The Ardscoil role provides an edge to Sunday’s game. The 2016 Ardscoil team that contested an All-Ireland final featured current Limerick hurlers Ronan Connolly, Peter Casey, Conor Boylan and Rory Duff, while sub goalkeeper Barry Hennessy was a managerial colleague of Flanagan.
The 2018 Harty Cup winning side included Clare’s Diarmuid Ryan and Limerick’s Cathal O’Neill, team-mates then and opponents on Sunday. This year’s outfit featured Cian Scully and Shane O’Brien, both part of the Limerick U20 team in the recent All-Ireland final loss to Kilkenny.
Flanagan juggles those roles, along with helping out with Clare underage teams, recruited there by Donal Moloney, and afforded a platform where he can utilise the skills from his degree. There can be schedule conflicts, February’s Harty Cup final had to be missed due to Clare’s league game in Cork that night.
But he maintains his input and on the playing side is starting to flourish, emboldened by his old Fitzgibbon Cup coach Brian Lohan to finally find his calling.
“Every new management, it’ll offer someone an opportunity,” says Hogan.
“Paul has grabbed it with both hands. Brian has known him, it has repaid that trust that Brian has showed. It has rejuvenated him really in an awful lot of ways. Brian has to take a huge amount of credit for Paul’s energy. He just doesn’t look fazed in games. He’s quite comfortable. I think that’s down to Brian’s management skills as well.”
In Ballyea it heightens anticipation this week. Their provisions to the Clare cause are the county’s greatest star in Tony Kelly, the durable defensive presence of Jack Browne and now the late emergence of Flanagan.
“We’d be hugely proud of the three lads,” says Hogan.
“And no better than facing your nearest neighbours. The added spice then Paul is working below in Ardscoil which is steeped in Limerick hurling. I presume he’s getting plenty banter down there but no better man than Paul to take that in a positive way.
“He’ll channel it in the right direction.”
Patience has been rewarded. Opportunity now beckons.