Conlon has achieved cult status in Clare with a characteristic lack of fuss

For the past fortnight the Clare hurling faithful has been justifiably excited about the prospect of taking on Limerick, the All-Ireland champions, in the bearpit of Cusack Park. It doesn’t get any bigger and it doesn’t get any more claustrophobic than Sunday.
Much of the action will be defined by the channel now occupied by John Conlon, who made the transition from a marauding forward to the moral conscience of the Clare defence with unfathomable ease. He’s the team captain and at this stage he has achieved cult status with a characteristic lack of fuss.
And without almost anybody noticing he is now in his fourteenth year as a Clare hurler, placing him among the ranks of the great survivors of the intercounty game. And through all that Conlon remains as vital to the Clare cause as ever.
“I was on the 2008 Clonlara team that won th …

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