LAST UPDATE | 22 Jul

SHANE O’DONNELL HAS revealed that a hamstring injury came close to ruling him out of playing for Clare in Sunday’s All-Ireland hurling final.

The attacking star scored two points and set up Clare’s crucial first goal as he maintained his brilliant standard of play this season.

But last Tuesday evening, the front-runner for 2024 Hurler of the Year feared he would be sidelined due to injury.

“I went and I pulled my hamstring in Tuesday and had a 1A tear, the mildest tear you can get.

“Tuesday evening thought I was 100% gone. Went and got an MRI scan on Wednesday lunch and then found out an hour later it was a 1A and I had a 50% chance of playing, there or thereabouts, depending on how it healed.

“All this going on, the emotion was just extraordinarily high during the week.”

The significance of the occasion was the key reason behind O’Donnell fighting through the pain barrier to play.

“There was no point, (that) it was absolutely definite. If it wasn’t an All-Ireland final, there would have been no point, but I made the decision a few days ago, regardless, if I survived the warm-up then I would play.

“There was a couple of moments, even in the first five minutes I ended up in a situation chasing Shane Barrett and I couldn’t commit the run because it could have went and it was too early in the game.

“I started calling over Adam (Hogan). It was maybe playing on my mind a small bit earlier in the game. There was no point where I was yeah, I feel great. It was a terrible week.

“I kind of got caught in a ruck, trying to rise a ball, and the mechanism that I damaged it was I went down and someone came on to the back of me. I fell to the floor and felt a shock through it.

“It was constantly there. I wouldn’t say it held me back at all, but it was in the back of my mind thinking, each time I sprint for a ball it could be my last, which I was happy to go with and see what happened.”

O’Donnell hailed the Clare physio team for assisting him.

“We have an unbelievable physio team and I just did what they told me to do. The first 48 hours totally nothing, let it settle, iced it for every hour for a solid two days.

“Within 48 hours it would start to heal a small bit because of where I was at. I had got the MRI back at this stage.

“They were happy just to start to load it a small bit, but pretty light, just some kind of bridges and long level holds, a little bit of rehab, and then I was alternating between hamstring exercise and frictioning it.

“That went on for two or three days. Saturday morning I met up with the physio to go for another session. That was it and then between Saturday afternoon and the match it was just leave it alone and just hope it is where it needs to be.”

Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

While Clare had several massive performances all over the park yesterday, the impact that O’Donnell had particularly in the first half and then Tony Kelly, made their attack hum with purpose.  

Despite major ankle surgery last winter, Tony Kelly exploded into this game.

The only thing to wonder is what it might be like to be out on the pitch when Kelly has found his groove.

“Yeah, you’re just thinking, ‘Thank God,’” laughs O’Donnell.

“When Tony gets going there’s nobody better and it’s just a matter of trying to keep feeding him as much ball as possible and sometimes just get out of his way.

“But yeah, he just does things that you don’t think are possible and you kind of just stand back and kind of be in awe of it, especially in the last 10, 15 minutes.

“Myself and (Conor) Cleary were beside each other on the sideline and were just willing everyone to get the ball to Tony, and it’s not the first time we’ve been in that scenario!

“He’s just an exceptional player and it’s a privilege to play with him.”

The Eire Óg Ennis man wrung everything out of himself in the pursuit of glory. He had said leading into this final that he would make a point of enjoying it even more than the 2013 final replay, when he hit a hat-trick of goals in 19 minutes.

He’s a more mature man now. 2013 was a form of Boy Band Mania. He is Dr Shane O’Donnell now, with aspirations of one day going into space.

At the final whistle of extra time on Sunday, he entered the stratosphere of hurling. Despite limping off, the body in bits with cramp, he sprinted on the field to embrace team mates.

“It was incredible, hard to put into words. It’s very hard to describe – just an outpouring of emotion that’s 10 years in the making,” he said.

“Tony’s right, you think it will come around when you win in your first year, and that obviously did not transpire. To get a day like today just makes 10 years of hardship worthwhile.”