Shane Dowling column: My reasons for choosing Shane O'Donnell as my hurler of the year
Taking a break until the League final paved the way for O'Donnell to have a superb Championship.
When it comes to choosing my hurler of the year, I have a shortlist of one: Shane O’Donnell. He has been outstanding.
Here is an interesting stat: the last three hurlers of the year have played little or no league hurling, O’Donnell’s first appearance for Clare this year coming in the League final.
It just goes to show that freshness matters. You don’t always need to be training hard in November and December. Obviously some players do but O’Donnell clearly needed time off. And look how Clare have reaped the rewards of that decision as O’Donnell came into this season fresh, fit and rearing to go.
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I have always felt with Shane that the events of the 2013 All-Ireland replayed final, when he scored 3-3 to help Clare win, left him with pressure on his shoulders from an early age.
Sometimes great expectations turns into grate expectations. It can be hard for a young player to deal with the burden of trying to follow up a massive day like that, especially when you are so young.
O'Donnell was only 19 in 2013. And I feel that as he has matured in years, he has relaxed into the work/life/hurling demands. He clearly has enjoyed his hurling this year.
He knows when to switch on and also the importance of switching off. That ability to relax has removed any pressure that he may once felt and allowed him to make the most of the considerable talent he has.
This season has been an exceptional one for the Clare forward, and the number of man of the match awards he has won this summer is a testament to not just his skills but also his mentality.
I saw a quote during the week from one of the Clare selectors where he said a thousand things happen in a game of hurling and then someone wins. Well, never was this truer than in yesterday’s final.
There were so many moments that could have went either way: a 50/50 penalty decision, the calls that were sent to Hawkeye, the wides that could have been scores, the goal opportunities than came to nought, the comeback by Clare, then the comebacks by Cork.
It was, to put it simply, an absolute pleasure to watch. Cork started really well, opened up Clare, and as I anticipated in advance, there was a load of space on the pitch which Cork exploited by running at their opponents. It took 15 minutes for the Banner men to get a handle on this Cork tactic.
So the big turning point for me was that the Cork puckout, which has worked so well for them all year, failed to function. Clare dismantled their puckout strategy, Cork winning just two out of 14 puckouts they sent long in the first half, which is astonishing.
They did not seem as aggressive with their plan today as they were against Limerick, whether that came down to lethargy, or whether it came down to something as simple as taking their eye off the ball in their prep on this - on the back of how well their puckout worked against last year's champions.
Clare were the better team in the second half but the crucial part to Cork staying in the game was the fact that Clare never extended their lead to four points. That Cork resilience was deeply impressive, highlighted by Patrick Horgan’s ability to hold his nerve and hit over two late frees to draw the game.
Those scores brought us to extra time - a period which had everything, from a referee getting a bloodied head injury, to some superb finishing from Tony Kelly, to yet another Cork comeback, and a near miss at the end.
I have to say I thought referee Murphy had a fine game. Yes, the Cork people will be annoyed with some decisions but when you consider this was a 90-minute game, played at a frantic pace, the reality is that no official will get every decision right.
What he did get right was the way he let the game flow as much as possible. By extra time, it was obvious that the Clare bench were making a bigger impact than the Cork one. Ryan Taylor and Ian Galvin each made huge contributions. Aaron Shanagher won primary possession; but his finishing was a bit off. Tony Kelly’s shooting certainly wasn’t.
If you were to ask me on 50 minutes for a shortlist for man of the match, Tony would not even be in the discussion at that stage. But what he did after that was just out of this world.
It isn’t just that he finished up with 1-4. The tally is impressive. But the nature of the scores was astonishing. His goal was incredible; his point where he hit it on the turn even better; and then the final score he got, which ultimately won the game, showed technical brilliance as well as nerves of steel.
This victory shows how resilient Clare are as a group. When they lost the Munster final, after playing poorly, I thought they could limp out of the Championship. But year after year they have come back from disappointments.
I doubt if Brian Lohan would ever invite me to his house for a cup of tea for his own reasons but I have to say, he stuck with this project. And Clare stuck by him after a couple of hard years and it just shows that a bit of consistency and longevity in a hard working team generally ends up being rewarded.
Clare got those rewards yesterday. They were worthy winners. But the only criticism I would make of yesterday’s epic spectacle was that this was a game that should have went to a replay rather than to extra time.
Players train so hard for so long to try and get across the line. I know it is an anti climax to send the players out to battle on a second day. But these players have put their lives on hold. They deserved another day out. As for the rest of us, we’re grateful for what we saw. Because it was magnificent.
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