*Shane O’Donnell. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
HURLER OF the year, Shane O’Donnell has confirmed that his recovery is ahead of schedule and he is hopeful of featuring for Clare in this year’s championship.
There was widespread upset after The Irish Times reported in February that O’Donnell was set to miss the entire season after undergoing a shoulder operation with Clare manager Brian Lohan stating that they expected to be without the Éire Óg man for the season.
However on the week leading up to Clare’s opening round in the championship at home to Cork on Sunday, O’Donnell has lifted the spirits of the Banner faithful with comments on Monday afternoon that he is hopeful of playing some part in Clare’s bid to retain their All-Ireland title.
Speaking on Monday at an event where Bord Gáis Energy were an official sponsor of the All-Ireland SHC, the Ennis native said he was optimistic of returning to full contact hurling training within four to eight weeks. Clare’s final game in the round robin series of the Munster championship is scheduled for May 25th versus Limerick in TUS Gaelic Grounds with the provincial decider pencilled in for June 7th should Lohan’s side qualify for the Munster final for the fourth year in a row.
Earlier this year, Shane underwent an operation on his right shoulder for a labrum tear, an injury he sustained in the All-Ireland final win over Cork but aggravated when training with Éire Óg. The shoulder labrum is a thick piece of tissue attached to the rim of the shoulder socket that helps keep the ball of the joint in place. Recovery depends on many factors, such as where the tear was located, how severe it was and how good the surgical repair was. It is believed that it takes at least four to six weeks for the labrum to reattach itself to the rim of the bone, and probably another four to six weeks to get strong.
O’Donnell is ahead of the curve on his recovery which was initially expected to have a six-month window. He expects to have further clarity on his exact timeline following further consultation with physios.
On an exact return date, he said, “I don’t have a very solid answer for that really, I don’t have any dates or anything like that. It’s coming along well but I’m still a bit away to be honest. So I don’t have a date that I can give you. I’m still kind of working with physios and stuff like that and I’m actually coming to the point where in the next week or so, I should be able to hammer out and understand where it’ll be. But it’ll be anywhere between four and eight weeks I’d say still in it, so yeah, that’s kind of the timeline I’m looking at”.
Information at the time is what prompted management ruling him out for the championship, Shane stated. “I went to a consultant and she was like, ‘If you want to play next year then you’re going to need surgery’,” he revealed. “Basically that was the conversation. Then I had to make a decision with that information”.
Long-term issues with the shoulder are not forecast, the two-time All-Ireland winner noted. “That’s why I have to take the time it takes now and that’s why I have to do exactly what the physio tells me to do. But there shouldn’t be any long-lasting impact after I actually get back out there. That’s where the caution is, that you don’t want to be in a situation that you could re-injure, or leave yourself weaker on one side, or not able to do certain movements or things like that. That’s what the (recovery) time frame is for.”
Management have previously dismissed reports that Shane had returned to training with the panel. “I was doing physio in Dublin. I mean, if you consider that training, then maybe I was training but, no, it wasn’t with the panel or anything”.
