Conal Bonnar

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Conal Bonnar

Personal information
Sport	Hurling
Full name	Conal Bonnar
Date of Birth	1970
Place of birth	Cashel, County Tipperary
Club information
Club	Cashel King Cormac’s
Position	Half-back
Club(s)*
Club	Years	Apps (scores)
Inter County
County	Tipperary
Position	Half-back
Inter County(ies)**
County	Years	Apps (scores)
Tipperary	1988-1999
All-Ireland	2
All-Stars	2
* club appearances and scores correct as of . **Inter County team apps and scores correct as of .

Conal Bonnar (born 1970) is a former Irish sportsperson. He played senior hurling with the Tipperary inter-county team from 1988 until 1999.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Playing career 2.1 Club 2.2 Inter-county 3 Teams 4 References

[edit] Early life

Conal Bonnar was born in Cashel, County Tipperary in 1980. The youngest child in a family of three boys, his name reflects the family ancestry. Bonnar’s parents came originally from County Donegal and Conal’s name was taken from the ancient name for the county. He was educated locally and later followed his brothers into Cashel CBS.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club

Bonnar played his club hurling with the local Cashel King Cormac's club. He enjoyed some success at underage levels, and in 1991 he won a senior county championship. It was the club’s first-ever senior county title. This was later converted into a Munster club hurling title.

[edit] Inter-county

Bonnar first came to prominence with Tipperary in 1987 when he won a Munster minor title with the county. He subsequently joined the Tipperary under-21 panel and won both Munster and All-Ireland titles with his native-county in 1989. The following year he won a second consecutive Munster under-21 medal.

Bonnar made his senior inter-county debut when he was drafted into the Tipperary panel for the 1988 All-Ireland final. The event attracted plenty of attention because he became the third Bonnar on the panel and, to be drafted in at that stage of the championship, was an indication of the potential of the player. Unfortunately, victory went to Galway on the day. In 1989 Bonnar was a full member of the Tipperary team and he captured his first senior Munster medal. This was later converted into his first senior All-Ireland medal following a final victory over Antrim. His performance throughout the championship earned Bonnar his very first All-Star award.

Two years later in 1991 Bonnar captured a second provincial medal before later winning his second All-Ireland medal following a win over Kilkenny. Once again his performance in the championship earned him a second All-Star award. In 1993 he won his third Munster medal, however, Tipperary were later beaten by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. Bonnar won his first National Hurling League medal in 1994. Three years later in 1997 Tipperary lost to Clare in the Munster final, however, in the first year of the 'back-door system' Tipp later qualified to play Clare again in the first-ever All-Munster All-Ireland final. Unfortunately, Bonnar ended up on the losing side for a second time. In 1999 he claimed a second National League medal before retiring from inter-county hurling.

[edit] Teams

	Tipperary - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1989 (23rd title)
1 K. Hogan | 2 J. Heffernan | 3 C. O'Donovan | 4 Noel Sheehy | 5 Conal Bonnar | 6 B. Ryan (Capt.) | 7 J. Kennedy | 8 Colm Bonnar | 9 D. Carr | 10 J. Leahy | 11 D. Ryan | 12 M. Cleary | 13 P. Fox | 14 Cormac Bonnar | 15 N. English | Subs: J. Hayes | D. O'Connell | A. Ryan | Manager: M 'Babs' Keating |

	Tipperary - All-Ireland Hurling Champions 1991 (24th title)
1 K. Hogan | 2 P. Delaney | 3 N. Sheehy | 4 M. Ryan | 5 Colm Bonnar | 6 B. Ryan | 7 Conal Bonnar | 8 D. Carr (Capt.) | 9 A. Ryan | 10 M. Cleary | 11 D. Ryan | 12 J. Leahy | 13 P. Fox | 14 Cormac Bonnar | 15 N. English | Subs: C. Stakelum | D. O'Connell | Manager: M 'Babs' Keating |

[edit] References