By Cian O'Connell

"The lads on the team actually are at me because I am the only one who actually remembers ’95 and ’97," John Conlon laughs.

A senior inter-county player since 2009, Conlon simply relishes representing Clare, who face Waterford in a critical Munster SHC encounter at FBD Semple Stadium on Saturday evening.

The passion still burns inside Conlon. "I got a bit of a shock last year when one of the players said I actually taught him back at Primary School in my first year out doing the subbing rounds," he continues.

"It’s great, like. The best bit of advice I was told was a few years ago when I hurt my knee; ‘Keep playing as long as you can, because once it’s over, it’s over and you can’t get that thrill back.’"

Conlon is delighted to be operating in another wildly fluctuating Munster Senior Hurling Championship. "I love playing inside in the Gaelic Grounds in front of 32,000, it’s very hard to replicate that thrill, what you get off that," he says.

"I will miss it when it is gone and I suppose I am not far from that now. But once my body keeps feeling the way it is, I can still balance that, that work-life-family balance, I will keep doing it.

"It keeps me active, it keeps me in that circle and it is a great thing to represent Clare, to put on that jersey and be as close to a professional sports person as you can be."

On a weekend dripping with emotion Conlon survived and thrived against Limerick. "There is a great rivalry between Limerick and Clare, I often say this about it, with local derbies they just take on a life of their own," Conlon replies.

"We have had great battles with them over the last 12 months, the three games last year and this year. We were just delighted to get out on the right side of one.

"You can see it still that they are the team to beat, the team that everyone is looking up to and I would hate to be playing them the next day."

It was a perfect response following defeat at Cusack Park against Tipperary. "We were just delighted because the first day we were disappointed with the goals we gave away," Conlon adds. "To concede five goals - three of them the way we did.

"If you conceded those three goals at Junior B level at the club you would be very disappointed.

"So you can’t give that head start to any team. There were certain aspect of that game in which we would have been delighted. When we reviewed it, when you look at the stats of the game and all the different things we record, we actually came out on top in a lot of them.

"And we created a lot of scoring chances and goal-scoring opportunities, but we didn’t execute them properly. You just have to put your backs to the wall then I suppose. Going into the Gaelic Grounds we needed a win.

"We were delighted we came out on the right side and have had two weeks then as well. Every game for us now is a knock-out game."

Ultimately, it meant Conlon could return to his brother's wedding with two Munster Championship points pocketed. "It was a super day," Conlon acknowledges. "It was a great distraction for the game if I'm going on the point of the game - it was a great distraction.

"I didn't really think about it until I was inside in the hotel meeting the team before going to the Gaelic Grounds.

"Once I had everything ready in terms of nutrition, fluids, all of that kind of stuff - to have everything ready. In terms of the gear and stuff, I was fine, I had all of that ready the night before.

"It was well planned out. It was just unfortunate the game came on the same day, it made the wedding in another sense at the end of it. The pressure was on me to get the win, making sure it wasn't a downer on the day.

"I was delighted for the brother, there is only the two of us. That was his special day and I didn't want to ruin it. So it was just super when we came back to the wedding after."

Conlon's plan to return unnoticed, though, didn't quite materialise. "I'd be unassuming, I'd try to go in the back door, I'd try to go over to have a pint with the cousins in the corner bar," he adds.

"Then one of the bridesmaids saw me, she had me out on the dancefloor to make a bit of a deal out of it. I was quickly back to the bar - as quick as I could."

A day that will linger long in Conlon's memory. Suddenly the future looks bright for Clare with the minors and U20s making a significant impact again.

"Great work being is put in there," Conlon says. "It was only a couple of years ago we thought that Clare hurling was in an awful state at underage with the beating that Cork gave us with the U17s at one stage.

"In fairness to Donal Maloney, who was our previous manager and someone I have great time for, he went back and put massive structures in place, spearheaded that, got great people involved in the underage groups and teams.

"And you can just see the work that is going on behind the scenes at school levels and everything. They have put all their ducks in a row and we are reaping the benefits of it over the last few weeks and I just hope moving into the future that those structures are in place so that we can all drive it on and make Clare as strong as possible throughout the underage teams and into the senior set-up."