IN OCTOBER 2020, as inter-county teams were preparing for a Covid-delayed championship, Clare hurling manager Brian Lohan received a request from the Banner club.
“Could Shane take it easy in training?” came the plea from Liam O’Reilly, a servant of the Ennis-based side for the last 15 years. He was making the appeal on behalf of their Junior B team who had a county final on the horizon.
The player in question was Shane Meehan. These days, he’s a familiar face in the Clare full-forward line who has cemented his place with 3-16 in a league campaign which ended in Division 1B victory.
He was a newcomer of note when he arrived into Lohan’s squad with a stacked underage record across both codes. He swept through the minor grade the year before, winning the Munster Footballer of the Year award along with a hurling All-Star.
His senior breakthrough would be along shortly after. He made his league debut in 2021 and a championship bow followed the year after against Limerick.
Meehan celebrating Clare's All-Ireland success in 2024. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
Home pride
At home, however, Meehan was already an established dual player. That 2020 Junior B showdown with Newmarket-On-Fergus was a milestone moment for the club’s hurling division, and they needed Meehan to be fresh for battle.
Lohan approved the request and the Banner went on to dominate the final by 2-11 to 1-6, with an energised Meehan posting 1-6. The rise continued last year when they won their first-ever Junior A title, where Meehan’s 1-4 powered the Banner past Ballyea.
“He’s the leading light in our club,” says O’Reilly about Meehan who plays an attacking role for the club’s footballers and hurlers.
Following last year’s success, the Banner will be operating at intermediate level in both football and hurling next season. The footballers achieved promotion in the 2020 final which was postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. It took the hurlers a little longer to climb up.
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“People might have expected that in 2022 or 2023, we might have made that step up, but we had a bad habit of getting beaten by a point in quarter-finals,” O’Reilly says.
“So, in last year’s final, you’d expect a little bit of trepidation to set in in the second half and Ballyea got a couple of scores back. But Shane was really leading the lines for us and he was outstanding.”
Meehan’s goal against Ballyea came in just the sixth minute of the game when the Banner were leading by one. That score laid the foundation of their 2-15 to 0-15 win.
🎯 Shane Meehan hits the back of the net for @BannerGAAEnnis after 7⃣ minutes.
“We’d a good lead going into half-time and then in the second half when we needed someone to come out around the middle of the field and get their hand on a couple of balls and calm things down, Shane was there to do that for us.
“He’s not one of these inter-county players that comes back to his club and has a quiet match. And often he’s double-marked. Some players that can be quite good at inter-county level struggle when they come back to the club team, but that’s not Shane.”
The Origins
To understand the finer details of Meehan’s evolution, one must consider the Banner’s decision to restructure the youth section of the club in 2012. O’Reilly played a key role in that movement, as did Meehan’s father Tom who is originally from Galway.
The incentive for reform came from the fact that the Banner’s adult teams were stuck in the “lowest junior ranks” and were often unable to field teams at juvenile level.
They implemented new coaching structures, ensured that volunteers attended coaching courses, and consulted with other clubs for advice on best practice. A 10-year-old Shane Meehan was developing at a time of huge growth for the club.
“I would have come in down with the U5s,” O’Reilly continues, “And we’ve built it up from there with that group and maybe a group two years older than Shane that won a Féile in 2014. Those players are now the adult players in the team winning our first junior championship last October and getting up to intermediate ranks in both codes.”
Those efforts are continuing to bear fruit for the Banner club. Meehan is joined by Ronan Kilroy in the Clare senior panel this year. Kilroy is also a dual club player and is hurling for the Clare U20s this year.
Oran Duignan and Conor Coffey are with the Clare minor hurlers while Tadhg Bane plays at midfield for the Clare minor footballers.
Meehan is the most successful player to come from that project. He made a substitute appearance in the 2024 All-Ireland final, scoring a vital point in extra-time as Clare lifted the Liam MacCarthy for the first time in 11 years.
“We’ll never forget him coming on against Cork and actually getting the winning point,” O’Reilly recalls. “He put Clare three ahead and then Cork got two back. So, in the club, we say that was the winning score.
“2024 was a really special year because he was on the Mary I team that won the Fitzgibbon Cup and beat UL in the final. And he got a bit of game time in the National League and they won the league.”
Dual status
Meehan has remarked in the past that hurling was always his first sport but O’Reilly laughs when that perspective is put to him.
“I don’t know would he tell his father that?”
Shane’s father, Tom, hails from the Dunmore MacHales club which is based in north Galway where football is the preferred choice of Gaelic Games. He is the current manager of the Banner’s intermediate footballers and was a mentor on Shane’s football and hurling teams from when he was U12.
A highpoint in Meehan’s football career was winning the Munster minor Footballer of the Year award in 2019. After featuring in the 2018 Munster final against Kerry, Meehan captained the Clare minor footballers in 2019. One headline performance from Meehan in that campaign was against Tipperary in a Phase One final where he scored three points in the first-half and 0-5 overall.
He flourished with the Clare minor hurlers that year too, clocking up a championship tally of 1-30 as Clare reached the Munster final. Meehan top-scored in that decider with 1-2 but it wasn’t enough as Limerick soared to victory on the back of a nine-point haul from current senior star, Cathal O’Neill.
Meehan’s second-half goal in that game was such a brilliant demonstration of speed and precision that his effort left the match commentators initially believing it was wide. The ball actually landed in the top corner.
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Meehan was the only player in Lohan’s squad to start all seven of their league games this year, and his 1-3 in the Division 1B final against Dublin was the perfect sign-off from the competition.
He had 1-1 on the board inside the opening quarter, his goal coming from a Darragh Lohan sideline. After gathering the brilliant delivery, Meehan stormed past Chris Crummey with a lovely sidestep before drilling the ball into the roof of the net. That score pushed Clare into a 2-6 to 1-2 lead, providing a crucial buffer considering Dublin’s second-half comeback.
Meehan has struggled with injuries in the past, including hamstring, groin and wrist issues. But with a clean bill of health, he’s a natural fit in the Clare attack.
Their Munster round-robin commences this weekend against a Waterford team who defeated Clare in last year’s series which ended in an early exit for the 2024 All-Ireland champions.
Meehan’s input could be crucial in avenging that hurt in 2026. The stage awaits down the road from home in Ennis.
“Hopefully it’ll be brilliant year for Shane, and we look forward to it,” O’Reilly concludes. “He’s just very, driven. He’s very, focused. He doesn’t talk about what’s going to set up. You won’t get anything out of him.
“He’s had a very good league and hopefully he can push on and have success.”
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The club dual star vying for central attacking role in year of redemption for Clare
IN OCTOBER 2020, as inter-county teams were preparing for a Covid-delayed championship, Clare hurling manager Brian Lohan received a request from the Banner club.
“Could Shane take it easy in training?” came the plea from Liam O’Reilly, a servant of the Ennis-based side for the last 15 years. He was making the appeal on behalf of their Junior B team who had a county final on the horizon.
The player in question was Shane Meehan. These days, he’s a familiar face in the Clare full-forward line who has cemented his place with 3-16 in a league campaign which ended in Division 1B victory.
He was a newcomer of note when he arrived into Lohan’s squad with a stacked underage record across both codes. He swept through the minor grade the year before, winning the Munster Footballer of the Year award along with a hurling All-Star.
His senior breakthrough would be along shortly after. He made his league debut in 2021 and a championship bow followed the year after against Limerick.
Home pride
At home, however, Meehan was already an established dual player. That 2020 Junior B showdown with Newmarket-On-Fergus was a milestone moment for the club’s hurling division, and they needed Meehan to be fresh for battle.
Lohan approved the request and the Banner went on to dominate the final by 2-11 to 1-6, with an energised Meehan posting 1-6. The rise continued last year when they won their first-ever Junior A title, where Meehan’s 1-4 powered the Banner past Ballyea.
“He’s the leading light in our club,” says O’Reilly about Meehan who plays an attacking role for the club’s footballers and hurlers.
Following last year’s success, the Banner will be operating at intermediate level in both football and hurling next season. The footballers achieved promotion in the 2020 final which was postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. It took the hurlers a little longer to climb up.
“People might have expected that in 2022 or 2023, we might have made that step up, but we had a bad habit of getting beaten by a point in quarter-finals,” O’Reilly says.
“So, in last year’s final, you’d expect a little bit of trepidation to set in in the second half and Ballyea got a couple of scores back. But Shane was really leading the lines for us and he was outstanding.”
Meehan’s goal against Ballyea came in just the sixth minute of the game when the Banner were leading by one. That score laid the foundation of their 2-15 to 0-15 win.
“We’d a good lead going into half-time and then in the second half when we needed someone to come out around the middle of the field and get their hand on a couple of balls and calm things down, Shane was there to do that for us.
“He’s not one of these inter-county players that comes back to his club and has a quiet match. And often he’s double-marked. Some players that can be quite good at inter-county level struggle when they come back to the club team, but that’s not Shane.”
The Origins
To understand the finer details of Meehan’s evolution, one must consider the Banner’s decision to restructure the youth section of the club in 2012. O’Reilly played a key role in that movement, as did Meehan’s father Tom who is originally from Galway.
The incentive for reform came from the fact that the Banner’s adult teams were stuck in the “lowest junior ranks” and were often unable to field teams at juvenile level.
They implemented new coaching structures, ensured that volunteers attended coaching courses, and consulted with other clubs for advice on best practice. A 10-year-old Shane Meehan was developing at a time of huge growth for the club.
“I would have come in down with the U5s,” O’Reilly continues, “And we’ve built it up from there with that group and maybe a group two years older than Shane that won a Féile in 2014. Those players are now the adult players in the team winning our first junior championship last October and getting up to intermediate ranks in both codes.”
Those efforts are continuing to bear fruit for the Banner club. Meehan is joined by Ronan Kilroy in the Clare senior panel this year. Kilroy is also a dual club player and is hurling for the Clare U20s this year.
Oran Duignan and Conor Coffey are with the Clare minor hurlers while Tadhg Bane plays at midfield for the Clare minor footballers.
Meehan is the most successful player to come from that project. He made a substitute appearance in the 2024 All-Ireland final, scoring a vital point in extra-time as Clare lifted the Liam MacCarthy for the first time in 11 years.
“We’ll never forget him coming on against Cork and actually getting the winning point,” O’Reilly recalls. “He put Clare three ahead and then Cork got two back. So, in the club, we say that was the winning score.
“2024 was a really special year because he was on the Mary I team that won the Fitzgibbon Cup and beat UL in the final. And he got a bit of game time in the National League and they won the league.”
Dual status
Meehan has remarked in the past that hurling was always his first sport but O’Reilly laughs when that perspective is put to him.
“I don’t know would he tell his father that?”
Shane’s father, Tom, hails from the Dunmore MacHales club which is based in north Galway where football is the preferred choice of Gaelic Games. He is the current manager of the Banner’s intermediate footballers and was a mentor on Shane’s football and hurling teams from when he was U12.
A highpoint in Meehan’s football career was winning the Munster minor Footballer of the Year award in 2019. After featuring in the 2018 Munster final against Kerry, Meehan captained the Clare minor footballers in 2019. One headline performance from Meehan in that campaign was against Tipperary in a Phase One final where he scored three points in the first-half and 0-5 overall.
He flourished with the Clare minor hurlers that year too, clocking up a championship tally of 1-30 as Clare reached the Munster final. Meehan top-scored in that decider with 1-2 but it wasn’t enough as Limerick soared to victory on the back of a nine-point haul from current senior star, Cathal O’Neill.
Meehan’s second-half goal in that game was such a brilliant demonstration of speed and precision that his effort left the match commentators initially believing it was wide. The ball actually landed in the top corner.
(Skip to 1.13 for Meehan’s goal)
Next Chapter
Meehan was the only player in Lohan’s squad to start all seven of their league games this year, and his 1-3 in the Division 1B final against Dublin was the perfect sign-off from the competition.
He had 1-1 on the board inside the opening quarter, his goal coming from a Darragh Lohan sideline. After gathering the brilliant delivery, Meehan stormed past Chris Crummey with a lovely sidestep before drilling the ball into the roof of the net. That score pushed Clare into a 2-6 to 1-2 lead, providing a crucial buffer considering Dublin’s second-half comeback.
Meehan has struggled with injuries in the past, including hamstring, groin and wrist issues. But with a clean bill of health, he’s a natural fit in the Clare attack.
Their Munster round-robin commences this weekend against a Waterford team who defeated Clare in last year’s series which ended in an early exit for the 2024 All-Ireland champions.
Meehan’s input could be crucial in avenging that hurt in 2026. The stage awaits down the road from home in Ennis.
“Hopefully it’ll be brilliant year for Shane, and we look forward to it,” O’Reilly concludes. “He’s just very, driven. He’s very, focused. He doesn’t talk about what’s going to set up. You won’t get anything out of him.
“He’s had a very good league and hopefully he can push on and have success.”
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Banner GAA Clare GAA GAA Hurling in the spotlight Munster SHC Shane Meehan