Shane O'Donnell of Éire Óg is tackled by Dylan McMahon of Clonlara on his way to score a goal, in the second minute of the second half, during the Clare Senior Hurling Club Championship Group 1 Round 2 match between Clonlara and Éire Óg Ennis at Pairc an Dalaigh in Tulla, Clare. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile.
By Paul Keane
Back in mid-winter, when Shane O'Donnell learned that he'd need surgery to correct a labrum tear in his right shoulder, cutting his losses and bowing out on a high was one option.
He'd just been crowned Hurler of the Year, had picked up his third All-Star in a row and was still experiencing the afterglow of All-Ireland success.
Certainly he had nothing left to prove in a Clare jersey.
He went the opposite direction though, resolving to take whatever time out was necessary to fully recover and to see if he could give it another shot in 2025. Maybe his last shot, but we'll get to that later.
Right now, he's looking at another four to eight weeks of recovery before he's available for Banner duty again. It's a long time out of the game, since surgery at the start of February, but it was thought at that stage that he'd miss the entire inter-county season, so a window of opportunity of sorts has opened up for him.
It's a more positive picture than the one presented to O'Donnell last winter. And the 31-year-old would be lying if he said retirement didn't cross his mind.
"Yeah, I was tempted," said the Ennis man of possibly cutting his losses. "If I'd done my ACL, that would have been different, where there was absolutely no chance of playing (in 2025), where the club was ruled out, everything was ruled out.
"Then I'd be like, 'You know what, I plan to go away, maybe that's the end of my career'. But when the recovery schedule kind of landed me into the middle of the summer, and I had the club campaign, and we still haven't won a championship in Clare with the club, it would just be unfair to be like, 'Well, I can't play for Clare so I'm not going to play with yee and I'm gone'.
"That would be a little bit...I feel like that wouldn't be a fair kind of end to everything the club has given me. So that was kind of what I was thinking at the time. So it (retirement) probably wasn't on my mind.
"I wasn't going to down tools and just forget about it. Also, there is great access to physios and stuff like that and really excellent medical facilities when you're involved with Clare. So taking advantage of that allows me to get back faster as well. So I do get a lot out of it."
In attendance at the launch of Bord Gáis Energy’s continued sponsorship of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship is Bord Gáis Energy ambassador and hurling star Shane O’Donnell of Clare with Logan Clifford Hegarty, aged 6, at Croke Park in Dublin. The announcement marks 16 years of Bord Gáis Energy’s involvement in inter-county hurling and celebrates the excitement, spirit and pride that make the championship and its fans so unique. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
O'Donnell felt an obligation to his Clare team-mates as well. Four years ago, when he suffered a bad concussion, they rallied around him. That, and the challenge of rekindling his best form, got him quickly focused on contributing again in 2025, if possible.
"It's not a personal challenge in the way that I'm trying to prove something to myself or anything but I do feel I have to contribute to the team," said O'Donnell. "I have to get back to actually being able to support them through Munster, and hopefully the All-Ireland. That's more the kind of narrative for me, that we've been a fantastic group for quite a while and they've supported me through coming back from a concussion, all those good things.
"So for me to just drop out and then suddenly not be available to help them, that's more kind of the angle I've been taking, where I just want to get back and support that push in some way."
The bigger picture for O'Donnell is that he'd already indicated this would probably be his last season with Clare before possibly relocating to America for work. The PhD graduate said that plan hasn't necessarily changed though it's not set in stone either.
"To be honest, the whole (political) situation in America potentially alters the plan more than this does, I don't really know if that's something I want to throw myself into, but that's maybe outside of hurling really," said the Eire Og clubman.
"But the plan is still to go to America, or to go abroad. This was kind of what I was eyeing up for my last year, but it's kind of harder to say that now because it's going to be a very truncated year, if it's a year at all, so I'm not going to nail myself down and say it absolutely is or is not my last year.
"Also, I think I got given out to last year for continually saying, 'Oh this is my last year' and then I played another year, so maybe I should be a little bit more vague on it. But that is the mean case that yeah, this is my last year and I kind of go to America and we live abroad for a while."
O'Donnell will be a jittery spectator this Sunday when Clare host Cork in Ennis in their Munster SHC opener.
"That is what you play hurling for, and to be looking at that from the sidelines, that's been really difficult," he said of bystanding. "And that's where it's been like, 'No, I need to (play again), I need to get back into contention."
