'We had our chances but left it too late' - Munster glory eludes us again

by Seamus Hayes news@clareecho.ie

CLARE should have led by more than three points at half-time in the Munster senior hurling final, centre back John Conlon has said.

Conlon who is Clare’s most experienced and longest serving player has lined out in four Munster finals but remains without a provincial medal at the grade.

Speaking to The Clare Echo following their successive one point Munster final defeat to Limerick, the Clonlara man outlined, “We knew coming into the Gaelic Grounds today that we were ready for the game. You could see that in our first half performance, we were excellent. We probably left a few scores behind us. We should have been going in a bit more ahead at half time.”

Reflecting on the game, the 2013 All-Ireland winner stated, “Limerick were very good in that third quarter as usual, they tore into the game. We responded very well and we had our chances near the end to force a draw, we just maybe left it too late and its very disappointing.”

Conlon continued, “We are very proud of the way we hurled today, we just didn’t get over the line. We knew it was going to be a titanic battle. We thought coming in that we had a great chance, I’m just really disappointed”.

“We will dust ourselves down tomorrow and Tuesday and get back to training later on in the week. The work is done its just trying to get the body right for two weeks' time again.”

Conor Cleary’s absence from the Clare defence was a loss, the primary school teacher acknowledged. “Any team missing someone especially in a defensive area, someone that has been there the whole time would find it difficult. He was a huge loss, he was one of our main men all year. Hopefully we can get him back for two weeks' time.”

Looking ahead to their quarter-final showdown with the winners of Dublin and Carlow, the centre back said, “It’s a new ball game now, win the next day and we are back where we want to be, back in Croke Park.

"We have a few demons from there last year that we want to address. You never know, we might meet each other again later on”, he said moments after watching Limerick captain Declan Hannon accept the Mick Mackey cup and claim their fifth Munster senior title in a row.