Cratloe’s own school of excellence

Jody O’Connor was the first speaker on stage at last January’s GAA Games Development Conference.

The opening slide of O’Connor’s presentation featured a picture taken at St John’s National School, Cratloe, in 1995. In the weeks after Clare’s All-Ireland final win — the county’s first in 81 years — selector and Cratloe native Tony Considine brought the Liam MacCarthy Cup to the local school, joined by panellists Davy Fitzgerald, Michael O’Halloran and Seanie McMahon.

O’Connor, the now retired principal from St John’s, employed the picture to illustrate how “impressionable” young children are.