Clare hurlers will be without Peter Duggan in 2020 as the ace marksman is bound for Australia.
Duggan first surfaced on the Clare senior panel in 2012 but it has only been in the last couple of seasons that he has come into his own.
He won an All Star last year as Clare reached Croke Park for the first time since 2013 while he was the team’s top scorer with 0-40 in this year’s Munster Championship.
Gerry O’Connor announced his departure as the team’s joint-manager earlier this month though it is believed that Donal Moloney is keen to stay on and Duggan has been in touch with him ahead of his November departure.
“I’ve met up with Donal and we’re going to still be in contact,” Duggan told the Clare Echo.
“Donal has been fantastic, he said the door is always open. I don’t even know what way things will go, you know yourself when people have went travelling but it hasn’t ended up being the way they thought it would be, so who knows, that might happen with me, and I could end up coming home.
“Donal has been brilliant and he will always support me in whatever decision I make.”
The 26-year-old plans on setting himself up professionally in Australia with a view to starting a business when he comes back.
“Playing inter-county now, there is a lot involved and the thought of being able to step away for a year and learn from experiences.
“I plan on starting my own business when I come back home in landscaping straight away, so being able to build up experience abroad, I’ve done a decent amount of it at home since I finished college in May and I’ve been working away in landscaping since.
“When I’m away I’ll be able to gain some invaluable experience that I wouldn’t be able to do at home.”
He added that, by taking a year out now, he believes it will lengthen his inter-county career.
“I decided towards the end of this year to do it sooner rather than later. If I do it now and come back, I’ll have years left in me hurling, I’ll have it out of my system and I’ll be able to hurl into my 30s.
“But if I leave it off and do it at 29 or 30, by the time I get back, it will be too hard to get back into hurling at inter-county standard. My best bet at prolonging my career is by doing it at this age.”
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