Colm Bonnar

Colm Bonnar was born in Cashel, County Tipperary, in 1964. The eighth of thirteen children born to a couple who had strong links to County Donegal, he was educated at the local national school and later attended Cashel CBS. There, Bonnar's skills at both hurling and Gaelic football came to the fore. He won Croke, Fitzgerald and McGabhann Cup winners' medals in both codes. In 1980 and 1982, Bonnar captured two All-Ireland 'B' Colleges hurling medals with the school.^[1]

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Bonnar joined the Cashel King Cormacs club at a young age and played in all grades at juvenile and underage levels. On 28 September 1980, he won a Tipperary Minor Championship medal after lining out at midfield in a 2-11 to 0-07 defeat of Thurles Sarsfields in the final.

Bonnar subsequently joined the Cashel King Cormacs, senior team. He enjoyed his first success at senior level on 24 July 1988 when he won a West Tipperary Senior Championship medal from centre-back after a 1-12 to 1-04 defeat of Kickhams.

On 12 August 1990, Bonnar was at midfield when Cashel faced Clonoulty-Rossmore in the West Tipperary Senior Championship final. He ended the game with a second winners' medal following a 2-11 to 0-15 victory. Cashel later qualified for the Tipperary Senior Championship final on 14 October. Bonnar was again at midfield for the 0-13 to 0-10 defeat by Holycross-Ballycahill.^[2]

Bonnar took over the captaincy of the Cashel senior team from his brother Cormac in 1991. He won a third West Tipperary Senior Championship medal on 22 September after Cashel retained the title with a 0-12 to 0-08 defeat of Cappawhite in the final. On 10 November, Bonnar captained the team from midfield when they faced Holycross-Ballycahill in the Tipperary Senior Championship final. A 2-08 to 1-05 victory secured the title for Cashel.^[3] On 8 December, Bonnar captained Cashel to the Munster Championship title following a 0-09 to 0-06 defeat of Midleton in the final.

On 29 July 1993, Bonnar was at midfield when Cashel King Cormacs faced Kickhams in the West Tipperary Senior Championship final. He ended the game with a fourth winners' medal and the man of the match award following a 2-15 to 2-12 victory.

On 2 October 1994, Bonnar captained Cashel from midfield in the Tipperary Senior Championship final. He ended the game on the losing side following a 2-11 to 1-09 victory for Toomevara. Despite this defeat, Cashel retained the West Tipperary Championship on 16 October 1994. Bonnar collected a fifth winners' medal following the 2-08 to 1-09 defeat of Clonoulty-Rossmore in the delayed final replay.

Bonnar won a sixth West Tipperary Senior Championship medal on 27 August 1995. He lined out at midfield in the 2-11 to 0-10 defeat of Kickhams. This remains Cashel's last divisional championship triumph.

In October 1996, Bonnar announced that he was transferring from Cashel King Cormacs to the Dunhill club in Waterford. He made his first appearance for his new club on 20 July 1997 in a 0-12 to 0-09 defeat by Tallow.

Bonnar first lined out for Tipperary as a member of the minor team during the 1982 Munster Championship. He made his first appearance on 12 May when he lined out at right corner-back in a 2-05 to 0-10 defeat of Cork. On 18 July, Bonnar won a Munster Championship medal following a 1-10 to 1-07 defeat of Limerick in the final. This victory secured a place in the All-Ireland final on 5 September. Bonnar lined out at left corner-back and collected a winners' medal following the 2-07 to 0-04 defeat of Galway.^[4]

Bonnar was drafted onto the Tipperary under-21 team for the 1983 Munster Championship. On 27 July 1983, he was at left corner-back when Tipperary defeated Clare by 2-17 to 3-08 to win the Munster Championship. Bonnar was switched to right corner-back for the All-Ireland final on 11 September, however, Tipperary suffered a 0-12 to 0-06 defeat by Galway.

On 25 July 1984, Bonnar won a second successive Munster Championship medal following a 0-12 to 1-08 defeat of Limerick in the final. He was selected at left corner-back for the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny on 22 August. For the second year in succession Bonnar ended on the losing side following a 1-12 to 0-11 defeat.

Bonnar won a third consecutive Munster Championship medal at left corner-back on 12 July 1985 following a 1-16 to 4-05 defeat of Clare. He was named in the same position for the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny on 25 August. Bonnar ended the game with an All-Ireland medal following a 1-10 to 2-06 victory.

Bonnar was in his final season with the under-21 team when he was drafted onto the Tipperary junior panel. On 5 July 1985, he won a Munster Championship medal after coming on as a substitute in Tipperary's 3-06 to 1-10 defeat of Limerick. On 18 August, Bonnar was selected at midfield for the All-Ireland final against Wexford. He ended the game on the losing side following a 3-09 to 1-13 defeat.

In 1986 Bonnar made his debut with the Tipperary senior hurling team.^[5] It was an unsuccessful year as Tipp were eliminated from the provincial championship at the first hurdle.

1987 saw Bonnar retain his place on the team. It was a successful year for Tipp as the county won its first Munster title in sixteen years following a dramatic draw and a replay with Cork in FitzGerald Stadium, Killarney .^[6] In the subsequent All-Ireland semi-final Galway put an end to Tipp's dream season with a 3–20 to 2–17 defeat.

1988 began well for Bonnar as he added a National Hurling League medal to his collection. He later captured his second Munster medal following another victory over Cork. A subsequent defeat of Antrim allowed Tipp to advance to the All-Ireland final where Galway provided the opposition. With an extra year's experience, it was expected that Tipp might shade the victory. Galway, however, used this to motivate themselves. Noel Lane scored the crucial goal for Galway while Nicky English sent a late penalty over the bar for a point. A 1–15 to 0–14 score line resulted in victory for Galway and defeat for Bonnar.^[7]

In 1989 Tipperary was still the best team in Munster and Bonnar won his third provincial title in a row after a 0–26 to 2–8 trouncing of Waterford. For the third time in as many years, Tipp faced Galway in the All-Ireland series, however, on this occasion the men from the West were without their star player Tony Keady. The game turned out to be a tense and unsavory affair as Tipp finally triumphed over Galway. Antrim, the surprise winners of the other semi-final, provided the opposition in the subsequent All-Ireland final. It was an historic occasion as it was only the second appearance of an Ulster team in the championship decider. Antrim's relative inexperience robbed the final of any real element of contest and Tipp romped home to a 4–24 to 3–9 win.^[8] Because of this Tipp preserved their record of being the only team to win an All-Ireland title in every decade in GAA history. It was Bonnar's first senior All-Ireland medal.

In 1990 Tipperary surrendered their Munster crown to Cork for the first time in four years. This defeat followed Babs Keating's infamous remark about Cork that 'donkeys don't win derbies'.^[9]

Tipp returned in 1991 and defeated Cork in a thrilling Munster final replay giving Bonnar his fourth provincial medal. The subsequent All-Ireland final saw Tipp take on Kilkenny for the first time in twenty years. A freak goal by Michael Cleary in the first half gave Tipp a lead which they never surrendered. A 1–16 to 0–15 victory allowed Bonnar to capture his second All-Ireland medal in three years.^[8]

1992 saw Tipp exit the championship at an early stage, however, the team bounced back for one last hurrah in 1993. That year Bonnar added a fifth Munster medal to his collection as Tipp trounced Clare by 3–27 to 2–12. The subsequent All-Ireland semi-final saw Tipp renew their rivalry with Galway; however, on this occasion, Galway took the spoils. This defeat brought the curtain down on Tipp's great revival.

After defeat after a draw and a replay in the Munster final of 1996, Bonnar lined out in a second consecutive provincial decider in 1997. Clare provided the opposition on that occasion, however, it was an occasion to forget for Bonnar as Tipp lost a close and exciting game by 1–18 to 0–18.^[10] The introduction of the new 'back-door system resulted in both Clare and Tipperary meeting for the second time in the first all-Munster All-Ireland final. The game itself was one of the best of the decade. Clare was well on top for much of the game, however, Liam Cahill and Eugene O'Neill scored twice for Tipp in the last ten minutes. John Leahy missed a goal chance in the last minute while another Tipp point was controversially ruled wide. At the full-time whistle Clare won by a single point – 0–20 to 2–13.^[11]

Following defeat in the 1998 provincial championship, Bonnar decided to retire from inter-county hurling.^[12]