‘I probably need to back myself more’ - Man of the Match Shane O’Donnell

Donegal forward Shane O'Donnell was full of confidence in Saturday's win over Monaghan as he helped his side come from seven down to win by six and advance to the All-Ireland semi-final.

The St Eunan's man had a total of 0-7 scored in eight championship games so far this year, but he kicked three points in the win as he ended up winning the Man of the Match award.

O'Donnell was accurate when taking on the shots, and he feels it's something he needs to continue as Donegal reach the final four.

“It’s something I don’t really go out to try and do, I kind of just go out play and make sure I’m doing my best for the team to get the result we need but if the scores come, they come but I wouldn’t get disappointed if they don’t come because I usually don’t get on the scoreboard too often.

“So it’s always a good day when you get a score or two, and I’m happy with the performance and with everybody else.

“I think at that stage we were maybe six or seven down, so I decided to back myself because I probably don’t do it enough.

“So I was happy to see it go over the bar, and that gave me a bit of confidence to go on and score a few more in the second half, so I probably need to back myself more to get on the scoreboard.”

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O’Donnell’s influence was huge in the second-half comeback, but the forward admitted they had a lot to do in the second half as they look forward to a two-week break before the semi-final, having been involved in three big games in thirteen days.

“It was a bit of a shock to the system, we knew it would be tight and it would be intense but we wouldn’t have liked to be going in at half-time (seven) down, but we had a big wake-up to reality and came out guns blazing.

“We always knew it would be a big task with the games week on week, it’s tough going on the bodies physically and mentally, but we responded well in the second half and got over the line, which was the main thing.

“It’ll be a big two weeks and we’ll put our heads down once we get home.”