JOHN CONLON HAS paid tribute to team-mate Domhnall O’Donovan, after he hit the all-important levelling point in Croke Park on Sunday, which ensured the All-Ireland hurling final would go to a replay.
And Conlon admitted this last-gasp rescue act came from the unlikeliest of sources.
“Domhnall would be from my club now. I suppose I thought he wouldn’t be known for his shooting and it was strange to see him on the ball,” he says. “But in fairness to him, he slotted it over. I’ve seen him do it many times down in the hurling field at home in Clonlara. Thank God he managed to do it today again. He got slagged over not scoring all year, but he’s fairly made up for that now.”
The player says himself and his teammates almost didn’t know how to react, after they needed a last-minute point to draw level, despite having led for much of the match.
“I suppose we thought that we’d lost it in the end and then got the draw. But then you go into the dressing room and you’re thinking maybe we were the better team. They got a few goals at vital times to bring them back into the game.”
Conlon also echoed the sentiments of many pundits, suggesting the extent of Clare’s dominance was not reflected in the half-time scoreline.
“The reality is we’d done all the hurling in the first-half but were only two points up so that was a bit of a downer. After half-time, we went five or six points up again and then they came back as well. I suppose it’s the great character of this team that they’re coming back the whole time. We don’t panic.”
And Conlon says the fact that the side will be split up, with many of them preparing for next Saturday’s All-Ireland U21 Hurling final against Antrim, will not be particularly detrimental to the senior team.
“It’s been the way all year since their Munster final,” he says. “We’re used to them going off and then coming back to us. We’ll go now for the week and have a few sessions. When you’ve a small panel at times it can be good. The 20 of them go away and then the rest of us do our work and we can go to have some good one-on-one sessions. We work hard and fine tune stuff.”
Meanwhile, Clare captain Patrick Donnellan played down suggestions they were fortunate the referee added so much extra time on.
“I suppose I would be a bit biased anyway, I wouldn’t think [the contentious calls] would be equalled that much. There might have been no necessity for extra-time if we were ahead at all a bit more. You are going to get things happening in games, we are not going to be cribbing and moaning about those kind of things.”
And like Conlon, Donnellan was full of praise for Clare’s game-saving hero, O’Donovan.
“It was great that we had a chance at least because we thought it was nearly over to be honest. Fair play to him, he saw the space, tore up and Donny is a very solid man, a very solid character and it is justified that somebody like him put the point over at the end.”
The 28-year-old also believes the sides’ next meeting is likely to be as closely fought as ever.
“I think it’s even again,” he says. “They are probably delighted they have another day out and probably a bit disappointed that they didn’t play as well as they like and we are definitely delighted to have another day out, because at the end, we thought we were going home. Maybe there’s a slight advantage to one team or the other, but does it matter? If we play well the next day, we’ll fancy our chances.
“We probably should have lost it too, so we’ll be realistic about it. If we play as well as we can, we’d be hoping that we’ll be good enough to win it.”
Moreover, Donnellan says the abundance of games he has had to play means he is unlikely to go on holidays until “2014 at this stage,” and explains how the intensive run of matches has been especially tough on Clare’s youngsters, given that they face the prospect of another final this coming weekend.
“The lads are playing again on Saturday and you are coming up and down with peaks and troughs from big games and emotionally, more than anything, it is tough on them, but they are used to it. They have been here before, they have played in Munster finals after big games and things like that, so they’ll get down to work and hopefully it goes well for them. It would be great for the county and the senior team if they can win.”
And while there were complaints about the Saturday evening throw-in time from some critics, Donellan says it doesn’t bother him.
“We are used to them at this stage. We played a few league games on Saturday evenings, so it’s probably a bit better — there’ll be a different feel to it and it will be great to be back in Croke Park in a few weeks.”
