Clare's John Conlon: Round-robin suits our type of players

In the delirious aftermath of Clare's win over Limerick, John Conlon gave a shout-out to all those back at his brother's wedding, which he had briefly absconded from in order to go and deliver a Man of the Match display in the Gaelic Grounds.

As the Clare folk gathered on the pitch, Best Man Conlon had to scoot back to the wedding 'afters' without delay, amid much speculation on what class of reception he'd get on arriving back at the hotel.

Though Conlon did his best to keep it low-key, one doughty bridesmaid wasn't having it.

"I'd be unassuming, I'd try to go in the back door, I'd try to go over to have a pint with the cousins in the corner bar," Conlon tells RTÉ Sport.

"Then one of the bridesmaids saw me, she had me out on the dancefloor to make a bit of a deal out of it. I was quickly back to the bar as quick as I could.

"It was a super day. It was a great distraction. I didn't really think about it (the game) until I was inside in the hotel meeting the team before going to the Gaelic Grounds.

"It was just unfortunate the game came on the same day, it made the wedding in another sense at the end of it. The pressure was on me to get the win, making sure it wasn't a downer on the day.

"I was delighted for the brother, there is only the two of us. That was his special day and I didn't want to ruin it. So it was just super when we came back to the wedding after."

For Conlon, at least one benefit of this 'fixture clash' was the match spared him the task of delivering the Best Man speech - a considerably more daunting prospect than taking on the All-Ireland champions on their own patch.

"I had the speech written out alright. I gave it to my brother's best friend Eoin Meehan. As he said at the start, he told me he said, 'this is all