Conor Hanlon: Football-mad household, injury woe and Buttevant's next step

Buttevant's Conor Hanlon runs toward goal during the McCarthy Insurance Group PJFC game between Urhan and Buttevant that was held at Ballincollig, Cork. - Picture: David Creedon

“I don’t know what we’d be if we didn’t have football in our house. It is genuinely everything in our house,” says Conor Hanlon, painting a GAA-obsessed picture that will resonate countrywide.

Conor Hanlon is Buttevant’s 23-year-old full-forward. David is his 21-year-old younger brother and Buttevant centre-forward. Joey is their dad and their club manager.

Mam Jean, while from GAA stock herself in Tipperary, is the poor soul whose ears are regularly burned from the non-stop football chat and regular football arguments between manager and full-forward.

We won’t forget the youngest either, Steven (18), denied involvement in this latest county final run of Buttevant’s because of the Cork rule precluding minors from playing above junior at adult level.

Football conversation in the Hanlon household is wide-ranging. 

Such is their North Cork geography, the club scenes of Kerry and Limerick get good airing. Local matters, as you’d expect though, supersede and dominate. Local matters have provided no end of talking points these past two years.

Buttevant stormed to Premier Junior honours 12 months ago. Their average winning margin was a most authoritative 11 points. Conor and David were first and third in the black and amber scoring chart.

Buttevant’s David Hanlon shoots for a score. Pic: Chani Anderson

Promotion had no truck with consolidation. They’ve taken out a pair of recently beaten Intermediate A finalists in Ilen Rovers and Mitchelstown, as well as perennial semi-finalists Adrigole, to position themselves one hour from back-to-back county titles at different grades.

The quarter-final victory over Mitchelstown stands out on this maiden journey in the fourth tier. 

For Conor, it was the afternoon they temporarily stopped talking about everyone else and the afternoon where everyone else began talking about them.

“The quality Mitchelstown have is ridiculous for an intermediate team. It was probably my best win ever in a Buttevant jersey,” he says.

“We are obsessed with GAA in Buttevant, obsessed with football. We are mad for going to games and watching other teams. Our game versus Mitchelstown finally felt like a game that other people were interested in. There were people there from Mallow, Kilshannig, Kildorrery. Everyone seemed to have an interest in it. Buttevant teams of the past didn't rise to that challenge, but we did.” 

The football obsession of a town nestled between Mallow and Charleville on the Cork-Limerick N20 has a perfect microcosm in the Hanlon household.

“That football is everything in our house is the best thing in the world and then it can be the worst thing in the world at times. My dad and I love talking about football. I'd be selling David short to say he doesn't love to talk about football too, but he does his own thing to prepare for matches, whereas me and dad can come to blows fairly often about our opinions.

“But sure that makes it. There’s genuinely not a second that passes where we are not talking about football, whether that is football in Cork, football in Kerry, football in Limerick, or inter-county. Football is genuinely everything in our house. I know that is a cliché, but it is in our house.

“I’d say mam is fairly sick of sorting fights out between me and dad. She loves it as well. I don't know what we'd be if we didn't have football in our house.” 

Conor, currently undertaking a Masters in Education at UL, was a Cork minor in 2020. Stepped up to U20 thereafter. 

Was the first sub in for the 2021 Munster semi-final win over Kerry. Lasted little more than 10 minutes because of an ankle injury. A 13-minute cameo that would follow him and hurt him for too long after.

“I thought nothing of it at the time,” Conor says of the injury. “And even though I left Páirc Uí Chaoimh in a boot that evening, I was like any young fella in thinking this will be grand when I wake up in the morning.

“Of course, it wasn’t right. It required surgery. Rehabbed it, got back, but probably came back too soon for the 2022 U20 season (he played the first-half of the Munster final defeat to Kerry).

“Once you're injured, then, all you want to do is kick. I just kept kicking, kicking, kicking. I had Os Trigonum in my ankle, it’s where a piece of chipped bone floats in between the nerves. That caused me serious trouble. Jesus, it sucked the life out of me altogether.

“No one knew what was wrong. Went for multiple scans, multiple injections. Nothing seemed to fix it. Played for Buttevant that year [2022] at 30%.

“We finally got a diagnosis, went back up to Santry for another surgery in June 2023. Only played 20 minutes of that year’s championship with Buttevant.

“But thankfully, it is perfect since. It was a long road. I don’t even like talking about it because it gives me PTSD.” 

He’s at 1-17 for this championship. It’s a total that places him third on the chart behind David and top-scorer Mark Lenahan.

Friday’s final opponents, Kilmurry, shaded them by the minimum in the group phase and had four on them in the 2024 Premier Junior semi-final.

Third time successful?

“When we were beaten in Premier Junior, you kind of know you'll be back because you're at the top end of the grade, but Intermediate A is so incredibly tough, we could have been out seven or eight weeks ago.

“We’re looking forward to the final. Your career is short, and we would always say in the dressing room, these are the best days of your life. Whether you're winning or losing, you're going down every single night, Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday, to play football with your best friends. There is nothing more enjoyable than that.” 

True, but the winter conversation in the Hanlon household would be similarly savourable should another piece of silverware spin up the N20 tonight.