Lawlor stands down after 14 years commitment with big and small ball
Conor Lawlor on his way to scoring his famous match clinching goal against Kildare in the 2018 Leinster Championship Photo: ©INPHO/Ken Sutton
He has been 14 years on the go at intercounty level. And that is only at adult level. For the first time in almost two decades, Conor Lawlor will not pull on a Carlow jersey in 2025. In a recent interview with the Carlow senior hurling manager, Tom Mullally confirmed that the former dual player was not in the squad.
A phone call to Lawlor confirmed the Carlow Town and Palatine clubman had decided to draw a line on his intercounty career. He will still play at club level but the man they call Horse has decided the time is right to ride off into the sun-set.
He was one of those rare breeds. Dual players are an extinct species now but Lawlor dabbled where he played college hurling, senior intercounty football and senior intercounty hurling in the one year.
As a minor he played intercounty hurling but not with the footballers. He played in both codes at under 21 level. There was one major moment in 2011 when Carlow were beaten by Wexford in a provincial under 21 football semi-final. The Model county went on to beat Longford in the final. That defeat hurt.
“Disappointing,” Conor concedes.
At 19 he was called into the Carlow senior football panel.
“Luke Dempsey was over both the under 21s and senior. When the 21 was finished and after the league games were over there were a couple of suspensions and lads not playing so he gave me a call saying there was a position up for grabs,” recalled the Palatine man.
Conor made his senior intercounty football before he played senior for Palatine.
“My first intercounty game was against Louth when we beat them in Portlaoise. That was my debut game. I came on for a challenge game but Louth was my first championship game.” Wexford was next and there were high hopes they could win in Croke Park. It wasn’t to be. Despite the defeat Lawlor felt that his football career had hit the ground running. It would be a rude awakening.
“After the initial years when we were beaten in Croke Park, I was thinking as a young lad that this was great and that we would always be in Leinster semi-finals.
Conor articulates what happened after that.
“We had some bad years where we finished in the bottom half of the league with no chance of promotion after playing only three games. There was no relegation, there was no chance of promotion and you are then playing games which are really challenge games to prepare for the championship team.
That was the way I was always thinking anyway that while the last three games in the league didn’t matter it still mattered to me to stay on the team.”
Anthony Rainbow came in as Carlow football manager in 2012. John Meyler was manager of the hurlers. Lawlor was selected in both squads. He wasn’t the only one.
“It was also my last year under 21 but I was playing both under 21 and senior in both codes. At one stage, Mark Brennan, Sean Murphy and myself tried playing both codes. I was also playing college too so it was a busy time for me,” recalled Conor.
He was told by Meyler that he would be starting against Dublin in a Walsh Cup game on the following Saturday. It didn’t happen because he picked up a hamstring injury playing with IT Carlow footballers.
“That meant I was on the backfoot with John Meyler but I did get back into it,” Conor recalled.
By the time, Carlow began winning league titles, Christy Ring and Joe McDonagh Cups, under Colm Bonnar, Conor had returned to the football panel.
With the senior footballers, Conor says Turlough O’Brien and Stephen Poacher combined brilliantly and as a result unprecedented success followed.
“Turlough was the man manager. All good teams have that sort of set-up where one manages the team and there is another coach. Turlough stood back and let Stephen Poacher do his thing. Poacher brought a game plan in. It wasn’t popular but it got us good results at the time,” conceded the Palatine defender.
It all came together for the footballers in 2018.
“That league, there were a couple of teams who were going well. In Division 4, you would be looking at the teams you could beat and the teams who were coming down. Sometimes the two best teams are not promoted as one team could get unlucky on the day. We were a good team that year. We were stopping teams from scoring against us. We were not scoring a lot but we were not conceding a lot. We were winning games by halting the opposition.” On a bitterly cold day in Belfast, Carlow beat Antrim to win promotion to Division 3.
“I don’t think people were giving us much of a chance. Antrim were pushing for promotion. All they had to do was beat us. When the final whistle went we were there. We were also in a league final but to get promotion, after so many years trying, was excellent,” recalled Lawlor.
With the league success came championship glory. Carlow faced up to the likes of Dublin, Monaghan and Tyrone with the northern counties coming to Carlow.
“That was the thing. I remember Monaghan more than most other games. Tyrone were different gravy in fairness. To be even within touching distance of them was a success. Against Monaghan we went in about three points behind at half-time. There were children at the tunnel cheering us into the dressing room. I remember thinking, Monaghan, three points down, we are going to win this game. It was great to see that. Even Dublin, we were the only team who they didn’t score a goal against that year.”
In the 2018 Leinster championship the goal which Conor scored against Kildare in Tullamore will live forever in Carlow footballing folklore. Stories can change as time goes by. Some people will swear Lawlor ran the length of the field after taking the ball from under his own crossbar. That is not quite accurate. The footballer himself has a different recollection of what happened.
“I remember Choo Choo (Sean Murphy) had the ball and I just said, I was going to go. I think I got the ball on the 45 and took only one hop between then and the small square. I was travelling, bouncing along.”
Lawlor eventually buried the ball in the back of the Kildare net and the Lily Whites were beaten.
“The amount of people who came up to me afterwards who said they had been waiting years to beat Kildare. There had been people waiting decades for us to beat Kildare. To do it in championship was nice as well. You have challenge matches against them but to do it in championship, those are the days to do it,” said Lawlor.
If Carlow got the breaks in 2018, they got very few the following year in the league. Lawlor remembers that season well where they were relegated back to the bottom tier.
“Westmeath in the league. We were level and Choo Choo going through. He doesn’t get the free. There was a similar foul on him earlier when we were four or five points down and he got the free.” Against Down in Carlow, the sides were level. With the Carlow crowd roaring for the final whistle, Down won a free to take the points.
“We weren’t going to get the win that day. It happens like that,” recalled Lawlor.
“Fine lines. It is the kind of thing if he blows it up we have the game. Listen, when it comes to one- and two-point games, every decision is going to be questioned. From start to finish but you only remember the end of it. You don’t remember the wide ball you kicked after five minutes, the free you gave away after ten minutes.”
By the time, a new football manager by the name of Niall Carew arrived in Carlow, Conor had returned to the hurlers.
He probably would not have swapped but, on a week away with his wife, he received a phone call from Pat Murphy of St Mullins who was a selector with the Carlow senior hurlers.
“I know you are with the footballers but is there any chance you would come in with the hurlers,” was the question.
That was in 2020. Conor decided to give it a go.
There were good days and not so good with the senior hurlers but the Joe McDonagh Cup win of 2023 will live forever in Lawlor’s memory. It was another day in Croke Park for the former dual player.
“Players have wanted to play in Croke Park and I have been lucky in that regard. I played Laois twice there with the footballers and then with the hurlers in the Joe McDonagh cup final.” There was a lot surrounding that final against Offaly. The sides met in the final group game in Netwatch Cullen Park. The visitors came with a weakened side.
“We went into the final with a lot of people saying that Offaly threw the game against us in the last round as they would rather play us than Laois. We drew with Kerry and Laois. All we had to do was beat Offaly and we were unbeaten. We were in there on our own merit. All I can remember about the group game against Offaly that people were saying they only had five regulars starting. We went on and won the game.”
Lawlor says Carlow didn’t get the respect they deserved that year.
“People were saying it would be a different Offaly team in the final and old-fashioned hurling folk were saying Offaly needed to be back up. They weren’t talking about Carlow. I remember hearing somewhere that Offaly were playing at the weekend but there was no mention of who they were playing.
“To be honest we were not listening to that. We were concentrating on our own game. Listen, I had been to Croke Park, most of the lads in that team had been to Croke Park before. It was all about telling younger lads what to expect. We actually did a tour of Croke Park a week before and it stood to the young lads.
That Joe McDonagh Cup medal is the only piece of silverware he won at intercounty level.
He has the picture in his house to remind him of that wonderful day.
“I am standing in the stand in Croke Park lifting the cup. It is downstairs The little lad (his son) taps it and says Da Da every time. It is a special memory to have.”
With Palatine, Conor has won three senior football titles. There was heartbreak initially when they lost to Éire Óg in 2012 but the club hit back to win the 2015 and 2016 finals.
When Palatine won an unexpected senior title in 2022, many people in the club felt that they didn’t get the respect they deserved. Conor is not so sure about that.
“We did tell ourselves we were going to win that year but it was a long shot.
2016 we were flying it. I was expecting this team was going to go and go again. The expectation was that we should be competing in Leinsters.
“2022 was definitely unexpected. Our manager, Pado Flynn, was more a hurling man. We were off the back of a quarter-final loss the previous year. People were saying this was going to be a 2-3-year gig with a new manager bringing in his plan and implementing it. To win it the first year was a shock for me. I reckoned it would be two to three years to get going and to win then. That one was special to be honest.” Looking back at his decision to retire, the signs were on the wall in 2024.
“Injury had me out for a while. Between club and county I did my hamstring six times last year. The only game I started was against Wexford.
It is the kind of thing where it is not a great way to finish your season but it is great to be in there, play the big guys such as Dublin, Wexford, Kilkenny, Galway. To be on the same field as them.
And so the thought entered his head. Not for the first time, he talked to his wife, Grace about whether it was time to retire from the intercounty scene.
“We are married three years and we have a one-and-a-half-year-old son (Sam).
Like any time, Grace always said it would be up to me and that she would back my decision. She has been very supportive over the years. With an intercounty player, you are not going to be on summer holidays. When you are going out for a few drinks I can’t because I have a match.
“She has always said it was up to me whether I wanted to keep playing or call it a day. When it came to that I always looked for guidance but the guidance was always what did I think?” And so Conor finally decided to retire. His two brothers also play club hurling (Carlow Town) and football (Grange). With his parents, Owen and Anne, the family unit have been supportive the whole way “They have travelled everywhere. Galway. They have travelled up North. Down to Kerry for games. My Mam is brilliant for the pictures. After a game, she would have 50-60 pictures and that is only a small percentage of what she takes. Even then, every year, she sends off for an annual. Every year, I would have a book of matches and events which she would have given to me.” My Dad was the one who brought me to games. The day Luke Dempsey brought me in he was with me. Mam and Dad have been the biggest influence. They have been with me the whole way up.”
The big man is not sure what he is going to do now. The initial calling is family.
“I don’t know if I want to go into coaching or management. With my son, I want to see how he develops. See what he does. Whether he gets into football or hurling. Whatever he wants. I don’t want to force him just because I played hurling and football. He might play rugby or soccer. He will be doing something. I don’t believe in sitting at home either.”
Senior Hurlers Championship 16 National Hurling League 18 Walsh Cup 11
Senior Footballers Championship 23 National Football League 27 O’Byrne Cup 5
Stats by Leo McGough
