Along with Colm’s youngest, 2013 All-Ireland winner Darach, they will all converge on Thurles to cheer on an institution so indelibly linked to the clan. Before Colm was proudly representing Clonlara in Clare colours in the 1970s and ‘80s, his father Patrick was principal in the local school and spreading the good word of hurling.

History shows they claimed a first Clare senior hurling title in 1919 but for most of the 1930s they were unable to field teams until 1950 when Patrick Honan and other likeminded Gaels revived the club and a junior B hurling title was won the following year. And yet that’s the level Clonlara were playing at when Colm started adult hurling.

One intermediate championship was claimed in each of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Then in the 2000s, there was an explosion. “We won a Feile, U16A and contested minor finals and then won an U21 and senior,” recalls Honan. “We had six lads on the first team to win an U21 All-Ireland in ’09 and five of them played in every single match. Six of them won a senior All-Ireland in 2013 and then we had lads on the U21.” 

John Conlon, Colm Galvin, Darach Honan, Domhnall O’Donovan and the O’Connell brothers Cathal “Tots” and Nicky O’Connell mark a golden age for Clonlara.

“I think Colm was the most complete hurler to come through Clonlara,” Honan remarks. “Just a phenomenal athlete, a phenomenal touch hurler. A great reader of the game and played an awful lot of hurling. I remember him playing as a corner-forward with ‘Tots’ in the other corner and Darach in the middle. You could imagine what they looked as an inside forward line.

“John would be totally different to Colm. He’s so focused. He has always worked really hard on his game and every aspect of it he covers. When he went to centre-back, he studied it in depth, and he would listen to coaches.

“His distribution has improved. When he was full-forward in Clonlara as a young fella, it would be very hard to get the ball off him because he would always want to go for goal. So he had to expand on his game and he did. He’ll make a great coach because he’s a great student of the game.” Honan reckoned Clonlara would be competitive this year. After three years in a row winning the consolation prize of the senior B in Clare, he sensed there would be an appetite to push on but they have exceeded his expectations.

“It has been an extraordinary year for Clonlara. We knew we had a good young team and a couple of outstanding inter-county players but we wouldn’t have equated it with the quality that we had down through the years.

“Yet they grew with each game and their first against the (O’Callaghan) Mills was the closest. With each passing game, they were more cohesive, relaxed in their hurling and breezed through the championship. Then the following Sunday the girls won their first senior county camogie title and we had only recovered from celebrating the men’s success and launched into it again.

“For the young players, winning the senior B gave them a taste of getting to a final and winning a cup for it. A lot of them hadn’t been in a final before. The first year they won it was great and the second year we were delighted for them but when they won the third year there was a realisation that this wasn’t enough.” 

Ballygunner have beaten Clare’s champions in the last five Munster championships but Honan believes Clonlara will enter this final free of trepidation.

“They have played some really good hurling especially in the county final when they were nine points up against Crusheen. They’re not inclined to freeze. They’re young, they love hurling, the management don’t put any pressure on them.

“Everyone in Clonlara is saying, ‘Won’t it be great if they put in a good performance and whatever happens, happens.’ We’re not even talking about Ballygunner. It’s about getting themselves ready and hopefully they will. We have to be realistic and realise the team we’re coming up but there’s no pressure on our fellas.”