 ‘Because you brought the Munster title back to Clare in ‘95’; or so the song goes! Brian Lohan returned home on Monday 22nd July 2024 as an All Ireland winning manager. On their drive down from Dublin, and after crossing the border from the home of 2023 Champions, Limerick, the Clare hurling team stopped for refreshments inside the Clare border at Durty Nelly's pub in Bunratty, Newmarket-on-Fergus – a short distance from Brian Lohan’s home town (Shannon). From there, the team were driven for their first official pit-stop and a packed Wolfe Tones GAA in Shannon. After addressing the crowd assembled outside, Lohan was carried aloft by his old team-mates from Wolfe Tones Na Sionna GAA into the club bar with the Liam McCarthy Cup, as the stars re-aligned with his outstanding success as a player. The room was filled with emotion, pride and tears of unbridled joy. (Video clip here: www.facebook.com/reel/440537942299511) Many circles open and close in our lives through life and through sport and it was fitting that Lohan got to greet his own people in Wolfe Tones GAA in Shannon with the Liam McCarthy Cup, before heading to the Fairgreen in Ennis for the larger celebration. Lohan grew up only around the corner from his club grounds and was an inspiration to his club for many years as a player. In that life circle, he’d have encountered the great Ger Loughnane as an underage coach in Shannon before going on to shine and be the spiritual leader for Loughnane’s senior Clare hurling teams in the unforgettable Clare success of the 90’s. In fact, while Ger Loughnane is originally from Feakle in East Clare, he lived and taught in Shannon throughout his adult life as he led Clare through the 1990's successes and he was one of the main drivers of the Wolfe Tones club underage successes for many years through the 80’s and 90’s. In the inter-linking of life's circles, the veteran current Clare centre back John Conlon is now a teacher in the same school (St Aidans, Shannon) as Loughnane served as principal for many years. Another circle shows that John Conlon’s link with manager Brian Lohan goes back to his earlier adult career where Lohan coached him at Fitzgibbon Cup level in University of Limerick near Conlon’s native Clonlara. This connection and circle has extended as Conlon has grown to become the spiritual leader of the Clare 2024 team in the same way Lohan was to the Loughnane’s 90’s team, and that Loughnane was to his own Clare team as a player in the 70’s and 80’s.  John Conlon and Tony Kelly embrace in front of Hill 16 terrace after final whistle. While scoring 1-4 in a man of the match performance, Tony Kelly from Ballyea has become one of the most revered hurlers of the current generation, and in time, will be considered one of the all time greats, if he isn’t already. He also has a link to Shannon in that, like many other Clare people, his mother has worked in Shannon for many years. Kelly’s link to Lohan goes beyond Clare and Shannon however, and in yet another circle, similar to John Conlon, traces back to his days as a student in University of Limerick (UL). In fact, Lohan managed University of Limerick's Tony Kelly inspired Fitzgibbon Cup team to All Ireland University success in 2015, a team that Lohan himself had helped win their first Fitzgibbon Cup as captain in 1994. It was fitting that after the game, Lohan took time for a photo with his old Clare mentors (Ger Loughnane and Tony Considine) in the company of the new All Ireland winning captain Tony Kelly, extending the mantle of greatness and perhaps opening a new circle.  Tony Considine, Tony Kelly, Brian Lohan and Ger Loughnane celebrate In fact, Lohan has had influence on more than the Clare players. Through his time as UL hurling manager, he would have coached many of Clare's rivals from Limerick, Tipperary and Cork hurling teams (Clare's opponents that played in the 2024 final) at universities level. In fact, University of Limerick had 20 players as either former or current students between the Clare and Cork teams that lined out in the 2024 All Ireland hurling final - the sporting circle no doubt extended. Particularly pleasing for Brian Lohan, was the introduction of one of the family's next generation to the inter-county hurling scene with more All-Ireland success. Brian’s nephew Darragh Lohan was immense for Clare in the final against Cork when appearing at full back as a replacement for the injured Conor Cleary, keeping his man scoreless as the match reached boiling point. Darragh continues the lineage following his uncles Brian and Frank who were both stalwarts of the Clare hurling team through the 90’s and early 2000’s. A deeper lineage to the Lohan Clare link exists, that some may not realise. Brian Lohan’s father Gus Lohan previously played inter-county hurling for Galway before relocating to Clare for work. Gus Lohan won numerous county senior championships with Newmarket-on-Fergus while playing for Clare in the 1960’s and 1970's and into the 80's. Gus Lohan settled in Shannon as it developed as a new town in Clare, spawned by the industry generated and developed around Shannon International Airport. Built on the edge of the Shannon Estuary at Rineanna, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Shannon Town has become an employment hub for thousands living in Clare, Limerick, North Tipperary, South Galway and even further afield. As the town grew, 'Wolfe Tones Na Sionna' was formed as a GAA club within the new town. Gus Lohan played junior hurling for Wolfe Tones at the end of his playing career, with his sons getting involved in a hugely successful underage hurling structure, that eventually led to the pinnacle of Irish sporting success in the mid nineties. Like Ger Loughnane before him, Brian Lohan probably represents everything that is good about his native new age town, in that like many others, he is the son of a settler from another county brought there for work reasons, and his feat of managing an All-Ireland winning team will be forever spoken about within the town and way beyond.
As the team navigated their way to Ennis from Shannon, through the parishes of Newmarket-on-Fergus and Clarecastle, Bunratty’s finest entertainers Cathal Jones and Pat Hayes, among others, warmed up the excited crowd, gathered in their thousands at the Fairgreen in Ennis. Other Clare people assembled in their towns and their villages, reconnecting and celebrating with family, friends and loved ones, meeting the new and the old, and extending and opening new circles. Clare have now won 5 senior All-Irelands since the competition began in the 1800's. Many Clare people lived their lives in the hope of seeing some Clare hurling success but without ever seeing any. Those that did, experienced the utter joy it gave the people and the towns and villages of Clare were lit up with elation and celebration. Not far from the sites of these homecoming celebrations, the graveyards in Bunratty, in Illaunamanagh, Lemenagh and Kilconry, in Clarecastle and Ennis and all over Clare held the remains of former players and supporters who would’ve only loved to have seen this most recent All-Ireland success, in one of the greatest finals ever played. If hurling is the game of the gods, as is so often quoted, maybe, just maybe, in the inter-linking of life's circles, they too had their own unique view, and took some joy and pleasure from the events of the day. As the 1990's song about Brian Lohan finishes, the line rings out, 'We sent Cork back to the Lee', just another of life's little circles completing! RIP Dad XXX. I know you'd have loved it. Unleash Your Potential Keith Begley is a member of BASES and an accredited performance psychologist with Irish Sport and Exercise Science Association.
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Keith BegleyPerformance psychologist - accredited with Irish Institute of Sport Archives
July 2024
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