Sunday, 5 October.
Scenes of jubilation on the pitch at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg as a famine of sorts was ended. Éire Óg had just beaten Clooney-Quin to win a first Clare senior hurling title in 35 years.
A sea of red enveloped the Ennis pitch, with photographers frenetically trying to capture the outpouring of emotion. A central figure in the snaps processed was Shane O’Donnell. Some 12 years on since his telling impact as a 19-year-old in the All-Ireland final, O’Donnell was again front and centre, leading the line as the ‘townies’ reigned supreme in the Banner decider.
A week later, the footballers obliged and so Éire Óg became only the second club in Clare to do the double.
O’Donnell, speaking to the media at the launch of the AIB GAA Club Championships for 2025-26, summed up the mood around the club, when saying: “The last couple of weeks have been a renaissance for the club, there is now a new energy around Éire Óg.”
And all connected to the club want to be a part of it.
“It’s almost like an opportunity for people to come back to the club, to come back to the clubhouse and enjoy that success,” he added.
“I think the young lads are running out of flares or maybe the country’s running out of flares based on the amount of them they’ve pulled out. But, yeah, it’s been an incredible couple of weeks.
“It’s totally stuff of dreams. The number of players who did the double is in the mid-teens and it’s challenging when you’re going year after year and they’re playing a championship game week after week, so for them to be able to pull that off, it’s just phenomenal. It’s really, really incredible.
Shane O’Donnell pictured at AIB Club Championship launch
“The club has been unbelievable. There’s so many people around the clubhouse at the moment. You can just wander down there and there’ll be just swarms of people just around because everybody’s enjoying the energy of being there so much.
“It’s been a really special time for the club. And it’s not lost on people that it’s history. It’s the second club that exists in Clare right now that have done the double and it’s incredible to be part of that piece of history.
“There’s been total outpouring of emotion from not just the players, but everyone around the club. I think a couple of years ago when we lost in the 2022 final, I probably realised how much it meant to people. A lot of old lads were coming up to me in tears. And then it was the same story, just with more positive kind of things to reflect on this year.”
It was very much a case of “relief” rather than “absolute delirious enjoyment” for O’Donnell after the final whistle sounded in that county final, while adding that many on the side had not won anything since an Under-15B triumph in times past.
O’Donnell getting to grips with Evan Maxted of Clooney Quin in the Clare decider
But 2025 has also been a challenge for the 31-year-old, this after a shoulder operation in January and the lay-off that followed. He did get back on the field of play for the Munster Championship clash with Tipperary but in the end only saw 90 minutes of provincial action as the Banner’s defence of their All-Ireland crown ended sooner than expected.
Then again, it was a chance to make good use of the free weeks that followed to aid Éire Óg’s cause.
And now there is a Munster campaign to aim for. Tipperary opposition await in either Loughmore-Castleiney or Nenagh Eire Óg on 16 November.
Something new.
“Munster was never on my radar. When I see teams playing in it, that was just an abstract concept to me. But now we have the chance to compete in it.
“We’ve had a week or two off since the final, so we’re just getting back out on the pitch again, and starting to prep in earnest.”
As for inter-county matters, O’Donnell would be available in 2026 if he is part of manager Brian Lohan’s plans.
“If Brian will have me back, the intention is for me to play next year, but it really is a question of whether I’m able to clear quite a number of injuries that have kind of accumulated this year,” he stated.
“I think chasing the shoulder back, I would probably try it again, but it was not the right decision, really.
“I think I ended up kind of coming back into the championship undercooked a small bit on everything else, even though my shoulder technically passed the test to get back.
“And it led to quite a challenging year in terms of just being fit, staying fit for the matches that I had. But, at the same time, I don’t think I would be able to avoid chasing that, getting back for that Tipp game.
“So that’s just the reality of the situation, it’s going to be a long off-season when it comes to try and get a number of things right. But if I can get them right and they react well to the rehab, then I intend to play next year.”
Defeat to Tipperary ended Clare’s championship aspirations in 2025
Also driving the 2024 Player of the Year is the desire to atone for a campaign where the county suffered relegation in the league and failed to make the All-Ireland series. The older brigade in the Clare set-up not yet ready to call time.
“Coming out of 2024 there was a number of us in the Clare panel that were saying we’ll do one more year and then that’s it really. And I think coming to the end of the Clare campaign this year when we realised we were out the week of the Limerick game, I was still under the impression that we were all kind of wrapping up.
“I kind of accepted that this was going to be my last game and then I turned to, I think it was Davey Mac (David McInerney) and I said something to the effect of ‘God, it’s tough to do your final Clare session, isn’t it?’
“And he was just like, ‘no, no, I’ll be back next year.’ He had told me 100% under no circumstances he was going again, so then I kind of had to re-evaluate if all the players of my vintage were going to be going again, that maybe there was another year in it.
“And, yeah, after the disappointment, it just would have been really difficult to leave it at that. Now, like I said, there’s a number of physical kind of barriers and hurdles I have to get through to actually be able to put myself in contention to be in any way useful for next year, but the intention is there anyway to be involved.”
Watch the Dublin Senior Hurling Championship final, Na Fianna v Lucan Sarsfields, on Saturday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player