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.
By Paul Keane
Clare attacker Shane O'Donnell has confirmed that he could yet feature in this year's Championship for the All-Ireland SHC title holders.
The news comes as a significant boost to the Banner County having initially ruled the Ennis man out of their plans for 2025.
Boss Brian Lohan stated in February that the gifted forward would be unavailable for the season due to surgery on his right shoulder at the beginning of spring.
That operation took place in early February and comes with a typical recovery period of around six months.
But speaking this afternoon at the announcement that Bord Gais Energy is an official sponsor of the 2025 All-Ireland SHC, O'Donnell said he's now working off a timeline of being back in four to eight weeks.
The three-in-a-row All-Star, 31, said he will have more clarity on the situation by the end of this month following further consultation with physios.
Clare, relegated from Division 1A of the National League, will play Cork this Sunday in the Munster SHC and will close their group campaign on May 25 against Limerick, a game that O'Donnell could yet have some involvement in if things go his way.
"I don't have a very solid answer for that really, I don't have any dates or anything like that," said O'Donnell of an exact return date. "It's coming along well but I'm still a bit away to be honest. So I don't have a date that I can give you. I'm still kind of working with physios and stuff like that and I'm actually coming to the point where in the next week or so, I should be able to hammer out and understand where it'll be. But it'll be anywhere between four and eight weeks I'd say still in it, so yeah, that's kind of the timeline I'm looking at."
O'Donnell said that initially being ruled out by Lohan was based on the best information they had at the time. The two-time All-Ireland winner was due to miss the league anyhow, in line with the agreement of recent seasons with management to return to activity around Championship time.
He said he has no great fears around getting up to speed with his stick work when he is cleared to resume full training and games.
The injury was sustained in last year's All-Ireland final defeat of Cork and after aggravating it in club training months later, he said he was left with no choice but to go under the knife.
"I went to a consultant and she was like, 'If you want to play next year then you're going to need surgery'," he revealed. "Basically that was the conversation. Then I had to make a decision with that information."
O'Donnell said rumours that he has already trained with Clare were wide of the mark.
"I was doing physio in Dublin," he said. "I mean, if you consider that training, then maybe I was training but, no, it wasn't with the panel or anything."
As for any long-term issues with the shoulder, O'Donnell, who previously suffered a serious concussion in 2021 which affected his hurling career, said he doesn't have any worries.
"There shouldn't be," he said. "That's why I have to take the time it takes now and that's why I have to do exactly what the physio tells me to do. But there shouldn't be any long-lasting impact after I actually get back out there. That's where the caution is, that you don't want to be in a situation that you could re-injure, or leave yourself weaker on one side, or not able to do certain movements or things like that. That's what the (recovery) time frame is for."
