As heroes’ homecomings go, surely John Conlon’s on Saturday evening will take some beating.
The Clonlara man picked up the Man of the Match award in Clare’s seismic win over Limerick and revealed afterwards that he had left his brother Pa’s wedding to bride Elaine to play in the game.
“Before we finish, I’d like to give a shout-out to everyone at my brother’s wedding. I had to skip on there at about four o’clock from the duties of best man, but I’m sure they’re all roaring at the moment,” he stated in his post-match interview.
“I’m sure we will have some party tonight!”
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The groom lines out for Clonlara’s second string (intermediate) team; the Schemozzle’s source in south-east Clare describes him as “a really hardy corner-back”.
The ‘Clon’ club is located close to the Limerick border, so the rivalry is intense, with a healthy proportion of the club’s hurlers generally attending Ardscoil Rís, behind enemy lines.
Gallagher’s priorities crystal clear
Much was made of Derry manager Rory Gallagher selecting Lachlan Murray and Eoin McEvoy for the senior panel against Monaghan, which meant they could not line out in the U20 Ulster final against Down in midweek, a game which was very close before Derry faded late on.
McEvoy started for the seniors; Murray didn’t come on until the 71st minute. Then again, Gallagher clearly rates Murray highly.
Way back in mid January, after Murray kicked a massive equaliser in the McKenna Cup against Tyrone, Gallagher described him as “an outstanding young talent”.
“We are very fortunate. He was part of an All-Ireland-winning minor team and he is a special player,” he said.
Special enough to make an impact when you’re nine points up with two minutes left, even . . .
Pundit Keegan on a (bad) roll
The Schemozzle’s dedication to keeping GAA pundits honest continues. Back on April 9th, at an RTÉ Sport launch, Lee Keegan faced a quickfire round of questions. With the benefit of hindsight, his answers were . . . well, “not great” would be a generous description.
Asked who would win the Ulster Championship, he went for Tyrone, while he gave his own Mayo the nod out west. Both were subsequently beaten at home in the first round.
Our favourite was when he was asked the somewhat prescient question, “Will Stephen Cluxton play for Dublin in the championship?”.
“No,” Lee replied emphatically. “I think [David] O’Hanlon has had a sensational year so far and I will tip him to continue that form in the championship.”
Tyrone minors make major statement
Tyrone and Derry are the standard-bearers in Ulster minor football, with 25 and 15 titles respectively, their cumulative 40 titles more than that of Fermanagh, Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Antrim and Down combined.
One of the superpowers has appeared in 11 of the last 12 finals. This year, Derry are regarded as favourites but Tyrone’s 8-17 to 0-2 (not a typo) win on Saturday over an Antrim side who drew with Armagh a fortnight ago was very ominous . . .
Word of Mouth
Davy’s losing the run of himself on the sideline, he’s getting thick! - Brian Carroll on co-comms during the first half of Cork v Waterford on RTÉ Radio 1.
By the Numbers: 64
Minutes played before 1/50 favourites Dublin took the lead for the first time against Kildare.
