Peter Duggan has the broadest of smiles as he recalls being in Taylor's Bar on the evening following last year's All-Star awards.
Some context as to why he does: In November, he became Clooney-Quin GAA club's first-ever All-Star. Technically, a club member won one before him - two-time All-Ireland winning Kerry goalkeeper Declan O'Keeffe who had moved to the area in the 2000s - but, as Duggan says, "he's a blow-in".
Some more context: Following the 2017 championship, Duggan had contemplated quitting inter-county hurling. He had just finished his sixth year with the county - he'd won an All-Ireland in 2013, his first full season - but had failed to nail down a regular starting spot in the intervening years. Just eight championship games were all he had played, scoring five points.
But then Clooney-Quin had a season to remember. They reached their first county final in 73 years with Duggan being key. His brother convinced him to give one more year to Clare; if it doesn't work out, you can't say you didn't try was the rationale.
So when he was named as one of the six forwards on the All-Star team for one of hurling's best championships in many a year, it was made all the sweeter for having stood on the brink but stepped back.
"The whole of Clooney came in, there must have been the bones of 250 people to congratulate me inside," says Duggan who speaking at the launch of Bodibro's 2019 range.
It was little things like that - I just smiled inside as happy as Larry. I was absolutely wrecked from the night before, I think I was home at 10.30pm that night! I'd to be put home.
If you'd seen the smiles and it wasn't just me, it was Mam and Dad inside - that's what makes it so much easier to go back. Imagine how happy that was for 250 people to see me [win an All-Star] after knowing me my whole life. Imagine the whole of Clare being able to see after winning an All-Ireland or Munster. That's the things that will drive you on.
Duggan has the type of bountiful enthusiasm, not just for hurling but life in general, which makes you feel everything is right with the world. The 25-year-old could turn the dourest of pessimists 180.
"There's positives and negatives," Duggan says regarding the inter-county game.
"There's little things you find that make you absolutely love it again. Last year I got asked to do a few things for kids in the club. It's just them little things that you love and think, 'That's cool. I would have loved that when I was younger.'
"Fergal Lynch from back in the day is my clubman and if I asked him to do something and he did it for me I'd think, 'Oh, this is the best thing ever.'
"I've had that from kids in the club. Even something as small as signing a sliotar, when you see the expression on their faces, it makes everything so much easier."
After six years at LIT, where he is studying Business with Sports Management, Duggan is just months away from finishing his third level education. He had been hoping to end it with Fitzgibbon Cup success but the college exited at the quarter-final stage to NUIG on a day when Duggan just couldn't get going.
"It's a sore one to take but [those are] the joys of hurling. I lost my hurley about five times so I was going around the place using my hands trying to block one [opponent]. It just wasn't working out at all."
What's immediately next, he's not sure, but long-term, he has an idea: starting his own landscaping business. "I like working with my hands," says Duggan who has worked in a pitch maintenance role with the Clare county board for the last few years, cutting the Cusack Park field and those at their centre of excellence in Tulla.
Every day he was in Cusack Park, he'd sneak in some free-taking practice. "That's half of the reason I worked there! I actually had a hurley left inside there."
"Just seeing the finished product of a job," is what he loves about that type of work.
I'm thoroughly enjoying it and I've also done different days here and there with other people and contractors and stuff like that.
I wouldn't get that same feeling when I complete a profit and loss account!
As the demands on players ratchet to the point where many now make career choices based on how it will affect their sporting ones, Duggan will not allow hurling to dictate what he does off the field.
"Would you believe I've done labouring for many a summer and I've found going to training on days I've been working from 7am to 6pm, I've nearly more energy than days I've been sitting down doing nothing.
"The way things are gone now most inter-county players are teachers, you get that little bit of time off and you've more time to go do your food prep and things like that.
"I think as an inter-county player you should go away and do what you want to do. I've taken my time, I'm 25 now and only just finishing up in college this year.
"It won't affect me overly if I do start up a company before I'm finished hurling because I'll get through the labour-intensive part of it. I only enjoy it anyway and it wouldn't bother me too much. If I've to take off a Friday before a big game, look, it will be alright - or a Monday!"
While there was that personal success last year, Clare's championship ended with the pain of an All-Ireland semi-final replay defeat to Galway.
"You'd never not watch the All-Ireland final, you love hurling," says Duggan. "The only reason I play hurling is I absolutely love it. I still watched it but it hurt, it hurt a lot.
"The main thing would be, I'd love if we won another All-Ireland or another Munster with Clare. Personally, I was delighted to get an All-Star and it's a great memento to have but at the same time it's a team sport and the main thing is winning with your team.
"Individual awards are great to look back on when you've finished your hurling but while you're still playing it they're fairly forgotten about. I won't think back on the All-Star until I'm finished hurling, being realistic."
Clare hurler Peter Duggan was speaking at the launch of Bodibro, High Performance Sportswear, 2019 GAA range. Bodibro specialises in personalised orders of training and match day gear for clubs, teams and colleges across Ireland. To find out more visit www.bodibro.ie. Photos by Sportsfile
