All-Ireland winner Patrick O’Connor not buying that it’s Clare’s ‘last dance’
NO LAST DANCE: Patrick O'Connor poses for a portrait in The Burren, Clare. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
Four days to completely flip a county’s mood. Four days to provide a most encouraging picture of the county’s future.
Before we delve into Clare’s emerging U20 crop and the slightly older crop that went from emerging to arrived in the same week as the former’s provincial success, 2013 All-Ireland winning Banner defender Patrick O’Connor wants a word on the many thirty-somethings in Brian Lohan’s panel.
The narrative has been that 2026 is the last dance for the core of this Clare group, that the band will split and leave the studio upon their exit from this summer’s charts.
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John Conlon, after all, is 37 next month. David McInerney turns 34 later this year. Tony Kelly celebrates his 33rd birthday in December. Conor Cleary celebrates the same birthday a month later. There are others with not too dissimilar birth certificates. Shane O’Donnell, meanwhile, is on record stating that he’ll not be around next year.
The last dance narrative thus has its merits.
O’Connor, who won an All-Ireland alongside most of the lads mentioned above, disagrees with that prevailing view.
“I wouldn’t buy into that narrative that this is the last dance,” O’Connor begins.
“I know Shane O’Donnell has things he wants to do professionally, and there are one or two others, but the vast majority of that team will be there next year.
“There’s huge motivation in that group, and there's a lot of loyalty to stay true to one another and to stay going for each other as long as they can. You layer that in with the guys that have quietly racked up championship appearances, Adam Hogan, Diarmuid Ryan, even Seán Rynne has been in and around the scene for three years now, so they’re all climbing up the chain inside in that dressing-room.”
Having had to bide his time to reach first-team summer status within Lohan’s camp, Rynne is enjoying a breakout championship. Last Saturday in Thurles was just his fourth championship start. The disappointment of his half-time substitution during the hammering by Limerick was maturely overcome.
From 15 possessions, he produced four points from play and assisted fellow first-team newcomer Niall O’Farrell. That’s 0-9 across the Waterford and Tipp victories.
Far less needs to be said about Diarmuid Stritch. In his first year out of U20 short pants, his was a sensational first championship start. Six points and four assists saw his imprint finish in double digits.
“Stritch has the dash of x-factor, and then what I really like about Rynne is that during his time with the Clare seniors, nearly any time he has been taken off in a game, he comes back the next day with a strong performance, and he did that again in Thurles. That’s a great mark of a guy.”
When O’Connor last spoke to the Examiner, during Clare’s difficult league campaign of 2025, he mentioned the inevitable rebuild that was coming down the tracks.
“Outside of this year, for the next two, three, and four years, we are going to be talking about a greatly changed team. We are going to have to find the spine of a new team,” O’Connor said in the spring of last year.
That rebuild is far more promising off the back of last week’s events.
“For the U20s to be in an All-Ireland final is great, but to be at the pitch of it every year in Munster where we’ve been in three of the last four U20 finals, and they were there at minor level before that, that's a very healthy indicator that things are in a good place.
“I know for a fact that Brian [Lohan] is very heavily involved in not just the senior team, but from the top down, he’s making sure things are going in the right direction. To be fair to Brian and Terence Fahy, all you’d hear from them is that there is a lot of synergy between the two groups.
“There are guys on that U20 team that were stalwarts in the All-Ireland winning minor team of 2023, but likewise, there are guys that have come from nowhere, such as Thomas O'Connor, who wasn't seen or heard of at minor. You need that too.
“What I'd be very excited about with regard to the U20 team is that there is no Tony Kelly or Colm Galvin who a senior manager might feel under pressure to press into action straightaway, that these guys will be given the time and space to go and develop, and then progress on to the seniors and get that one or two years under the belt because that's what it takes, as opposed to being fast-tracked in there when they're not particularly ready.
“It appears to be a fierce honest and talented group, so you’d say there’s a load of them who have a chance of progressing up.”
Turning to more short-term matters. Clare’s championship revived, possible Munster final involvement has all of a sudden shot into view. What is required at Páirc Uí Chaoimh is a four-point win. It is 2019 since Clare last came off second best to Cork in the round-robin.
“I know a Munster medal was a huge motivation factor for those fellas going back this year, so I wouldn't consider Sunday a free hit.”
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