The stuff of dreams

By Seamus Hayes

Man of the match in Saturday’s All-Ireland replay, Shane O’Donnell, did not know he was in the starting line-up until just over two hours before the throw in.

“We were getting food at St Patricks College when Davy brought me aside and told me I was starting ahead of Darach. I was delighted. The way the game went is just the stuff of dreams. It was absolutely amazing,” the 19-year-old Éire Óg clubman said.

“Anyone of 24 or 25 could have started. Cathal McInerney has been getting on before me in recent games. It’s just testament to how hard people are working inside at training. I was just lucky enough to get the call and it worked out well. The lads gave me the ball and it was handed on a plate to me to score the goals,” according to the second-year genetics student at UCC. He quipped that he will be returning there “early enough this week so that I can give the lads some slagging”.

He didn’t know he was in the starting line-up before the manager told him. “I was a bit surprised but it was brilliant. I always wanted to start. The last few weeks in training have been good to me. Since the week before the U-21 final I have been going well, just hit a patch of form. I got it at the right time, thank God. I score a couple of goals in an A v B game at training last week,” he said.

Why was it left so late before he was told he was starting? “I get very nervous before matches. In hindsight, it was great and it made it easier. I slept great last night and when I got up this morning, it was like I can’t wait for my chance to get on. I wasn’t too nervous, just excited to get out. It worked brilliantly. Davy brought me aside and told me and he just said do what you always do”

O’Donnell said he is, “not good at scoring points so I was going to go for a goal. I have it in my head I will go for a goal and if I get taken down, the free-taker will get the score, any score up on the board is one for Clare, so it’s all right”.

With three goals to his credit after 20 minutes, was it difficult to remain focussed on getting more scores? “It wasn’t difficult to maintain concentration. A year or two ago it would have been different, I’d get a goal or two and I’d be delighted and I’d end the game and say I could have got more. Today, I just kept thinking that the game isn’t over, Cork kept fighting back. It wasn’t too hard to realise we needed more scores, they were just right behind us,” he replied.

Which of his goals was his favourite? “It has to be the third one because the other two were absolutely put on a plate for me. I had nothing to do but to put the ball in the corner.”
He added to pick the goal of the match, “it was Conor McGrath’s one, it topped all of mine easily”.

He described as “unbelievable” the feeling after scoring in front of the Clare fans in Hill 16. “You can’t describe the feeling, you literally dream of that, going up to the hill after scoring, it’s amazing”.

Was he aware of how good the game was? “You know when everyone’s touch is in and everyone is going well. At the end of the day, you couldn’t care less if the game is awful as long as you come out with the cup but when everyone’s touch is in, you can see when a game is flowing well.

“You can never think that you might be beaten. Cork were always going to come back and they did. They came back to level early in the second half, we really had to get back on the bike and go again. It really is the stuff of dreams.”

Concluding, the Clare hero paid a warm tribute to his club Éire Óg. “ The lads have been excellent, I have missed a lot of club training all year. I haven’t been there much but the lads have been sending me messages. They are a rock, even when things haven’t been going well, the kept encouraging me. They are great.”