SHANE O’DONNELL is back in non-contract training – despite suffering what was believed to be a season-ending injury.
The reigning Hurler of the Year was ruled out of the 2025 league and championship campaign after getting surgery on a shoulder problem.
That news was confirmed by Clare senior hurling boss Brian Lohan, who told the Irish Times: “It’s very unfortunate for Shane himself and the team as well.
“We looked at every option with Shane but the medical advice was that surgery was 100 per cent necessary, so we wish him well and a full recovery.”
However, in a potentially seismic twist, the Irish Examiner is reporting that the Eire Og man has returned to non-contact training.
It is all-but certain to come far too soon for him to be involved in the Banner’s Munster championship opener against Cork.
However, it conjures hope among fans that the three-time All Star could play some role in their All-Ireland defence later in the summer.
His injury represented a nightmare scenario for 2025 for the 30-year-old, especially after a dream 2024.
The Ennis man, who scored a hat-trick as a teenager when Clare won the All-Ireland final in 2013, was similarly influential in 2024.
Brian Lohan’s men beat Cork in last year’s decided to win Liam McCarthy for the first time in 11 years.
And O’Donnell’s contributions were recognised by winning his third All-Star and being named Hurler of the Year.
But speaking on The Podgecast podcast, he revealed he was desperate in his mid-20s to ‘do something’ big again in hurling and to avoid being remembered for ‘frontloading’ his career.
Asked by host Podge O’Connor in the aftermath of last year’s final about what legacy he’d like to leave after retirement.
O’Donnell said: “I had until I finished my career to break the idea that I was just that person who scored the goals in 2013, as if I didn’t have a career that spanned…like, I went on for years after that.
“So that would have been frustrating, if I’d played for 12 years and I was only remembered for what I did in my first year.
“I think that would have been frustrating.
“A couple of years ago, when I got my first All-Star, I kind of felt like that monkey was off my back.
“I felt I had a good year and I was really happy to get an All-Star.
“After that, I was like, yeah, it kind of broke that a small bit.
“Before that, I would have been conscious of being like, ‘God, I really need to do something one of these years so that I can have some sort of, I don’t know.
“Staggered nature to my career, rather than completely frontloading it’. That’s probably my answer.
“I think I would like to be remembered as, I don’t have any grand ambitions.
“Just for being a Clare player that contributed to the cause enough to bring two of Clare’s five All-Irelands back.
