By Paul Keane

Late last week, a 12-month memory photo popped up on Shane O'Donnell's phone, reminding him that exactly a year earlier he was sitting in a hospital bed. As if he could forget.

A concussion injury suffered while training with Clare had a severe impact on the Ennis man and, for a while, one of the most talented hurlers of his generation, the current PwC GAA/GPA Hurler of the Month for May, was even resigned to never playing competitively again.

That injury cost O'Donnell the entire 2021 Championship campaign and he didn't feature in this year's National League either. So when you put it to him that it must have been disappointing to lose the Munster final recently, he almost laughs at you.

"We were bitterly disappointed with the result but in the context of where I was 12 months ago, it's not a drop in the ocean compared to that," he said. "I don't know if the lads would appreciate me saying it but I'd lose 10 Munster finals in a row rather than be where I was 12 months ago. That's the best perspective, or context, of the last week or so that I can put it in after what I had going on."

Against that stark background - at one stage last year he was simply trying to 'function correctly, to process normal thoughts' - to come back and start every Championship game for Clare so far in 2022, and pick up the PwC award, is quite remarkable. It's been pointed out by several commentators that O'Donnell looks like a different player these days.

"I think there's a lot to unpack in that (statement)," nodded the Ennis man. "Definitely there is a small bit of playing with more abandon and just being less concerned about poor performances and shooting wides I would say. Definitely less concerned about that.

"Being out at wing-forward too, instead of corner-forward or full-forward, it gives you the opportunity to really put your mark on the game without necessarily having the ball in your hand.

"I'm enjoying being able to chase lads, tackle lads, you know, to really get involved without having to be delivered the ball basically by a team-mate. It's a bit of both but definitely on the positioning side of it, being able to physically get involved is something that I really enjoy out at wing-forward."

High achievement is part of O'Donnell's DNA and you wonder which is he more proud of, his All-Ireland medal from 2013 and the stunning hat-trick he smashed in that season's final replay defeat of Cork or the fact that he last year completed a PhD in microbiology. Once, in an intriguing podcast interview when he was asked what he'd like his legacy to be, he spoke about his interest in space travel and 'getting involved ideally in being an astronaut or something, that's the end goal...'

He also revealed in that same podcast interview in 2020 that he had the opportunity to return to Boston, where he'd studied in late 2018 and early 2019 on a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. He ultimately knocked back the opportunity to return to the US and, in light of the subsequent brain injury which occurred just months later, it's something he could easily have regretted.

"When I made the decision that I didn't go back, I felt like it was the right decision and I haven't thought so much about it," he said. "But if you'd asked me this 12 months ago, definitely, I would have majorly regretted not taking it but no, I think I made the right decision and despite the opportunity that I let go, by not going back, I'm glad with the decision I made."

If he'd left, O'Donnell believes it would have been the end of his Clare career. Instead, he's here battling away for a second All-Ireland medal, Wexford the Banner's opposition this Saturday in an intriguing quarter-final tie between two teams that have clashed often in recent Championship campaigns.

"It's like playing Limerick or it's like playing a game like that, where we're very familiar with eachother," said O'Donnell. "We played eachother a lot at different stages over the last 10 years. We've won and lost to eachother so it's less a grudge match and more like a real, true rivalry I think."

Win or lose, O'Donnell will take it all in his stride. Only he knows exactly how far he's come since the two counties played out a rip-roaring Round 1 qualifier in his absence last July.

"I think I was listening to it on the radio," he recalled. "I wouldn't have been able to watch it on a screen, it would have been too, I'm not sure if emotive is the word, but it would have got my heart rate going too much to go to the actual game so my option was listen to it in the car. That was kind of all I was left with really. It wasn't really a conscious decision between different options, it was kind of what I was able for."