'You are used to being on the road' - Shane O'Donnell makes light of Donegal controversy
BY THE TIME Shaun Patton stood over his final kickout last Sunday, there were mere seconds left on the clock and Mayo had just drawn level with Donegal through Fergal Boland's point.
There's been a huge amount of talk since that all he had to do was boot the ball out and both teams would have made it through at the expense of Cavan.
That discounts the possibility that the players may not have been aware of events in Brewster Park Enniskillen, where Tyrone were dishing out a beating to Cavan. Or even the suspicion that players were deliberately shielded from events elsewhere.
Patton's kick was wide to his left. It went over the head of the intended target. It bounced kindly to Ciaran Moore and it's difficult to think of another Donegal player who would have had the conditioning to achieve what he did, which was to outpace Sean Morahan and step inside Jack Carney to kick the point that put Mayo out.
Better to have to face Cavan down the line than Mayo, the logic would follow.
On the sideline, Shane O'Donnell had been taken off. He, and others, were screaming to put the ball out of bounds
'There were a few boys shouting at him to kick it out. And there were probably a few boys shouting at Shaun then as well to drain the clock and wait for the hooter to go,' he admits at the Croke Park launch of the All-Ireland football series.
'It was just so hard to get messages on board even when I was on the pitch. You were unable to hear things from the sideline just because of the way the stand was. And the stand was on top of the bench.'
A dramatic day in the Hyde. And the drama didn't end then either, as Donegal manager Jim McGuinness railed about the perceived unfairness of having to travel to Roscommon to play the game in a neutral venue.
McGuinness' point that Donegal were somewhat discriminated against was a moot one, given how Kerry travelled to Tullamore to take on Meath and unavailability of other, more equidistant stadiums.
The complaint about not getting a hotel within the county is also frivolous, given that Donegal routinely book into the Slieve Russell hotel in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan for their games in Clones, Co Monaghan.
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Asked if the situation around Dr Hyde Park came as an annoyance to the players, O'Donnell answered, 'Not really, there wouldn't be really much chat about it.
'I suppose with big games you are used to being on the road at this stage and you get your preparation and all done the night before with travelling down to hotels et cetera. We don't get too caught up in it, it's probably more of the logistics team or whatever that are dreading the thought of it.
Shane O'Donnell pictured at the All Ireland football launch. Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE
'We are just happy to be playing in the big games and being at this stage of the All-Ireland series.'
Donegal, along with Meath, have now played seven games each across this championship. With the season squeezed into a tighter window, it has never been as game-heavy.
Donegal now have their eighth game in a period of 12 weeks this Sunday when Louth come to Ballybofey in the preliminary quarter-final.
Research conducted by the Gaelic Player's Association holds that players want more games and less periods of heavy training.
So what's that like when you're right in the middle of it?
'It's definitely more enjoyable,' says the 24-year-old St Eunan's clubman.
'At the end of the day when you are training in December or January or whatever it is, you are just looking forward to playing games.
'When the league starts to end, that is the beginning of the end with games on games nearly. It is definitely enjoyable, but it is definitely taxing on the body too. Especially going through Ulster, it can be very taxing with every game being just as tough as the next.
'I suppose we got the short straw going into the preliminary round as well against Derry. That was probably an extra game that we didn't really want, but thankfully we came over the line with an Ulster Championship.'
O'Donnell's own form has arrived this season with a steady run of games. Having played first in the side that reached the 2022 Ulster final, he sat out the 2023 season.
He returned last year when McGuinness came back as manager, and he puts a great deal of his improved performances down to personal circumstances now that he is living at home and working as a PE and Maths teacher in Deele College in Raphoe.
Just twenty minutes drive from his home in Letterkenny, Raphoe is also just three miles from the Donegal training base in Convoy.
'I suppose the big thing for me there was getting home. I was in Dublin there for four years so it was very taxing on the body, Which kind of led to me taking the break as well there in between. It is definitely a lot easier now being at home, it takes away the travelling,' he explains.
'Last year, I was nearly living out of the car at one stage. It is nice to be home. It is nice to be able to recover and rest, especially with the quick turnaround for games.
'I feel good at the minute and I am looking after the body really well which is the main thing.'
One huge benefit to Donegal GAA has been the growth of the Atlantic Technological University in Letterkenny, with Michael Murphy attached to the institution.
However, some do need to go further for their education and O'Donnell is not afraid to admit the commuting to and from Dublin has had a toll.
'It is very tough. I suppose after my first year in I thought maybe that I wasn't performing as much as I would have liked to be performing. I was maybe putting that down to fatigue and tiredness and what not. Driving can be hard on the body as well with hamstrings.
'When I went back in last year with Jim and all coming back it was kind of hard to turn it down last year. Now it worked out well with how my timetable was in terms of placement and in terms of DCU as well.
'But it was a busy season last year with Sigerson as well. You were having two games a week nearly during the league season. That was tough as well. It was nice now to get on the other side of that and put all my focus into one thing.
'I suppose in terms of comparing to other years I feel a lot fresher and a lot healthier now this year.'
James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
And speaking of Murphy, O'Donnell was able to play alongside him in his first year. He will admit that for some of the younger crew like Finbarr Roarty and Ciaran Moore, there is an element of playing alongside a cast-iron icon this season.
O'Donnell insists that when Murphy was taking his first steps back in with the panel, he wasn't aware of it – instead being involved in the Ulster club campaign with St Eunan's.
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'There were rumours going about,' he explains.
'It was a closed camp and I didn't actually believe it until I'd seen it with my own eyes when I got back there. So it's good to have him back. He's a great man and he's a great ambassador for Donegal.'
And there's no surprise that his form has been so critical to Donegal this year.
'I suppose when you're in the club championship and he was playing Glenswilly, they were flying with him there as well and he was performing well in all those games,' states O'Donnell.
'I kind of had a fair idea that he would have settled in well whenever he came back, probably not as well as what he's doing at the minute.
'He's performing in all the big games for us at the minute and he's coming away with individual awards as well there. He's doing very well and I'm very happy for him because there's no better man to be getting that recognition because he deserves it.'
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