Clare ace thought he might not get the opportunity to feature in hurling’s biggest day again after suffering a serious concussion in 2021
Clare’s Shane O’Donnell: “I just love playing hurling. When I have a bad loss, the only thing I want to do is play another game.” Photo: Sportsfile
Shane O’Donnell has admitted that the thought of never getting to play in a second All-Ireland senior final was “front and centre” of his mind three years ago as he contemplated retirement from hurling due to a concussion.
O’Donnell suffered the injury in training with Clare in June 2021. He went through a brutal aftermath of severe symptoms, including nausea and headaches, and was forced to take six weeks’ sick leave from a job he had only just started.
Having exploded onto the scene as a 19-year-old by scoring a hat-trick in an All-Ireland final, O’Donnell admits harbouring fears his career would end without getting the opportunity to play in hurling’s biggest day again.
“I remember thinking, I can’t believe my career has gone from ‘I win it’ and then I have to retire without getting that opportunity again,” said O’Donnell.
“It gave me kind of a free shot at everything that came after that. So I feel no pressure really. I would have always put a lot of pressure on myself before. And I do coming into the games.
“I become obsessed with getting the most out of myself, but in a strange way, I don’t feel any pressure associated with that.”
O’Donnell rejected the notion that Clare’s first final in 11 years was reward for their perseverance in that time.
“It’s a somewhat strange narrative,” O’Donnell stressed. “I don’t find it difficult. I just love playing hurling. When I have a bad loss, the only thing I want to do is play another game. So the fact that there is another game in front of you, it’s brilliant. You just jump straight back into training again and off you go.
“You’ve friends training in the panel. There’s no better place to be. So the narrative is a bit skewed in some ways.
“You’re so disappointed and you’re crestfallen, but the best way to get out of that is just get straight back at it and just get back in with the group.”
