*Shane O’Donnell has received the all-clear to return to action. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
With just four weeks until Clare’s competitive bow in this year’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship, there’s mixed news on what has been an unprecedented revolving door of injuries.
With up to half of the squad on the casualty list for some part of 2022 to date, manager Brian Lohan has yet to field anywhere near a full strength side but is hopeful of the panel being at their best shape for far this season for the much-anticipated return of the round-robin Munster Championship series.
On the plus side, experienced forward Shane O’Donnell is back in full training for the first time in nine months following prolonged concussion suffered at training last June. Having received the all-clear from his specialist last week, the Éire Óg star will be aiming to bridge a 16 month gap to his last championship outing when Clare commence their provincial campaign away to Tipperary on Sunday, April 24th.
That date will also be the realistic comeback target for Aron Shanagher (quad) and Diarmuid Ryan (back) but it’s not all good news for Lohan and Co. on the injury front.
Definitely out of the Munster Championship is another key Éire Óg forward David Reidy whose knee injury has required surgery today (Thursday). Still unclear of the extent of the damage, his recovery timeline is as of yet unknown and could even potentially extend to impacting his club championship involvement with the Townies for whom he won a first ever senior football title in 2021.
Also on the long term list are 2021 National Young Player of the Year nominee Aidan McCarthy (leg) and former captain Patrick O’Connor (cruciate) while Mark Rodgers, who was last week named on the 2022 Fitzgibbon Cup Team of the Year following his superb scoring feats for champions UL, is in a race against time to recover from a knee injury and play any part in Clare’s Munster campaign.
