Men who put Clonlara back on map
One picture sticks out, however, different in that it doesn’t blend in with the family theme.
“That is the 1975 Clonlara intermediate winning team,” he proudly asserts. “Probably the team that got this club on the road.”
Clonlara had secured a first county senior title in 1919, followed by an intermediate crown in 1928, but in the ensuing four decades the club’s story had followed a recurring theme; near misses, close shaves, the perennial bridesmaid.
“All the more remarkable about that victory over Wolfe Tones was that we were six or seven points down with 10 minutes to go,” laughs club chairman Fran Mullane, wing-back on that glorious afternoon. “I had Fra beside me at centre-back and he was a great man to play alongside, he would look after you, that much you could be sure of.”
Rooting around in his back shed, Moloney manages to locate one of his hurleys from the 1975 campaign. A central figure in the club’s return to senior ranks that summer, lauded by Moloney as one of the club’s greatest ever exponents, was half-forward Colm Honan, father to Darach. The two-time league medal winner recalls the enormity of the win, put into context by the difficulties faced by the club with regard to playing numbers.
“There were only four in my class in primary school, it was a three-teacher school and as a result we would only have enough players to compete in the nine-a-side.”
That as it may be, Fra claims those who possessed a love of the game around these parts were always well nurtured.
“Colm Honan’s father Patrick was the principal in the local school and he always encouraged us to get out and play. We didn’t have a field so we asked the farmers could we play on their land. When you went into the school there was a box for the turf and there was always hurleys thrown in there and we would take them out to play at break.
“It’s because that tradition was kept going by people like Peter Fitzpatrick and Eddie Horgan is the reason why we are so strong today.”
Further rooting in the shed and Fra stumbles upon Ger Reedy’s goalkeeper hurley from the 1975 decider.
“Darach Honan and John Conlon would bring their hurleys down to me when they were younger and I would touch them up, provide a service as best I could. They might have had only a hurley or two back then, but nowadays that have god knows how many.”
There are now seven belonging to the towering full-forward inside the front door of the Honan household.
The aforementioned pair are just two of six Clonlara men on Davy Fitzgerald’s panel — Nicky and Cathal O’Connell, Domhnall O’Donovan and Colm Galvin — and Mullane paid tribute to the club’s thriving underage structure in delivering such a vibrant representation this Sunday.
“We would never have envisaged in our wildest dreams to have so many involved. Especially when we were watching the 1995, ’97 and 2001 finals and we had no one involved.
“Even when the great Kilkenny team was winning All-Irelands year-in, year-out, I don’t think there was any one club with the numbers we have.”
The club chairman recalls the back-to-back County Féile titles in 2002 and ’03, marking out Clonlara as the emerging force in Clare. All-Ireland success was not forthcoming but Mullane points to the ’03 trip to Kildare, one game in particular comes to mind, the afternoon these young boys announced themselves as real hurling talents.
“We beat Glen Rovers in our final group game, now it meant nothing to us, but the lads were really outstanding in that game and took a deserved win.”
Should victory materialise on Sunday, the local watering holes, The Stich and O’Shea’s, are bracing themselves for one hell of a homecoming.
Clonlara won’t be bypassed this time around, their imprint is simply too strong.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
