SHANE HAS ONE VISION
O’Donnell kicking on from 2013 win
The forward’s two early goals set the platform for Clare’s four-point win over Limerick in Semple Stadium yesterday, which puts the county into their first Munster final in nine years
‘I don’t think I have been under pressure because of 2013,’ the forward maintained. ‘I have taken confidence from that performance, if anything. The only problem has been the injuries,’ says O’Donnell, who has struggled with a knee problem for most of the year.
‘I haven’t had a year since 2013 where I haven’t had a serious injury, so I am just trying to shake them off. That has been my biggest personal battle. Once you are on the CLARE’S goal-scoring hero Shane O’Donnell insisted that he hasn’t felt weighed down by pressure to replicate the form that helped his team win the 2013 All-Ireland final replay.
pitch, you don’t feel anything. You are just enjoying the game.’ For O’Donnell, and most of his Clare team-mates, it was only the second time they had experienced a win in the Munster hurling championship — they had beaten Waterford in 2013 — a record that they desperately needed to erase. ‘I was just saying to Conor McGrath in the dressing-room about that being only the second Munster game I have ever won and he was saying the same thing and he has been on the squad a few years longer than me. ‘It’s crazy considering the highs we reached a few years ago that that’s our Munster record. And I think that’s what we had to have in mind coming here. ‘With all the hype from Cork and Tipp, we couldn’t look ahead to anything. We have no right to look ahead to anything. We had to treat this game like it was the All-Ireland final.’ Conor McGrath stooped for Clare’s third goal in the 51st minute, preying on a frailty in the Limerick full-back line but it was O’Donnell’s industrious and energetic firsthalf performance that will please Clare fans most. He is a talisman for the Banner and when he ticks, the team ticks. And O’Donnell admitted that he fully enjoyed the freedom of a roaming role. ‘You have more time to express yourself and do something with the ball,’ he said. ‘In the full-forward line, your options are very limited, you have men around you all the time and stopping everything you want to do. ‘You are restricted to just passing the ball off at times, so I was delighted the lads put me in and gave me the freedom to play around the middle.’