Home comforts have Donegal's Shane O'Donnell in flying form
Sitting on the bench for the final moments of Donegal's clash with Mayo at Dr Hyde Park on Sunday, Shane O'Donnell was cognisant of the permutations as the game entered its final moments.
Fergal Boland's sweet outside of the boot strike had just brought Mayo level. Their championship was alive and Cavan's over. A win would change nothing for Donegal. The draw would have been sufficient for them to claim second in the group and a home preliminary quarter-final spot.
Still, Shaun Patton sent a kickout towards halfway, finding Ciarán Moore. The hooter blared, but the half-back hared forward and his winner stuck a dagger in Mayo's championship heart. Mayo's year had stopped beating but Cavan's still had a pulse.
'I was fully aware because I was just after coming off at that stage,' explained O'Donnell at the All-Ireland SFC knockout stages launch.
'Now the boys on the pitch was probably a different story. When you are caught up in those type of games and those type of moments, you are not thinking about other things.
'There was a few boys probably shouting at him to kick it out. There was probably a few boys shouting at Shaun to drain the clock and wait for the hooter to go.
'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. The stand was on top of the bench nearly.'
O'Donnell has nailed down a half-forward spot for himself in this Donegal team. The St Eunan's man made his inter-county debut in 2022 during Declan Bonner's final year in charge. He stepped away for the 2023 season before returning last year when Jim McGuinness made his comeback. The biggest factor in his consistent form has been returning to live in Donegal.
'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,' he said.
'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. Driving can be hard on the body as well with hamstrings. Last year, I was kind of nearly living out of the car at one stage.
'I stepped back a bit then and tried to focus on my career and my college. When I went back in last year with Jim coming back, it was hard to turn it down.
'It worked out well with how my timetable was in terms of placement and in terms of DCU. But it was a busy season last year with Sigerson as well. You were having two games a week nearly during the league. That was tough. It was nice to get on the other side of that and put all my focus into one thing.
'Comparing to other years, I feel a lot fresher and a lot healthier now this year.'
Leaving the panel for the 2023 season was a tough decision, but also the right one.
'The first year I went in, we got to the Ulster final,' he said. 'We fell short in extra-time against Derry, who were flying at the time.
'I had to be selfish in a way and look after my body myself and other things as well. I got to go out to America in that summer which was a nice freshener, which I suppose drove the hunger back into me then to get back and play football.'
Donegal face Louth in Ballybofey on Sunday. Ulster champions against Leinster champions. O'Donnell does think it curious that none of the provincial champions managed to win their groups and progress straight to the quarter-finals.
'We took our eye off the ball I think against Tyrone,' said O'Donnell, 'so we're probably in the place that we probably deserve to be.'
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