Home comforts for St Eunan's Shane O’Donnell both on and off the pitch

Shane O’Donnell dipped his toe back into the water on Saturday with a fleeting appearance and is now getting things moving at home in both his professional and sporting life.

Following Donegal’s elimination from the All-Ireland SFC against Galway, O’Donnell took a couple of weeks holidaying in Chicago and San Diego before coming on as a late substitute in St Eunan’s clash with Kilcar on Saturday in the Donegal SFC.

With his elder brothers Conor, who played centre-back, and Niall, the scorer of 2-1, helping to pull the strings, St Eunan’s coasted to a 2-12 to 0-9 victory to get the ball rolling, with things expected to raise a notch or two when they travel to face the holders of the Dr Maguire Cup, Naomh Conaill, this Sunday in Glenties.

“It was my first appearance there after only getting back from holidays so it was just a matter of getting a few minutes into the legs really,” O’Donnell said. “It’s back to training this week then. I had a blast and it’s good to get back to get the head back down again.

Sunday night last, O’Donnell tuned into YouTube as Donegal Boston won the Senior Championship with a 1-19 to 0-11 victory over Connemara Gaels.

Twelve months ago, he was part of the winning team in Canton, juggling his footballing commitments between North America, St Eunan’s and Dublin City University. Since then he has finished college in a year where he reaffirmed himself with Donegal’s seniors, winning the Allianz League Division 2, an Ulster SFC and coming within a whisker of an appearance on the All-Ireland SFC final.

Come October, O’Donnell will graduate from DCU, with a degree in Physical Education with Mathematics under his belt. With that, the commutes will significantly lessen thanks to having secured a teaching position for the new school year at Deele College, alongside county colleague Peadar Mogan.

“I’m delighted with that and can’t wait to get started,” O’Donnell said of the post in Raphoe. “I was well-used to travelling up and down the road to Dublin in midweek and at weekends, so it’s nice to get something close to home with the championship on here now. It’ll be a big difference.”

With O’Donnell, his bother Niall, Shaun Patton and Ciaran Moore involved with Donegal all year, as was Caolan Ward, who did line up for St Eunan’s occasionally, Barry Meehan’s squad is coming together as things get moving domestically.

“The focus is on the club now, it’s my first week back and it’s about getting up to speed, especially seeing we’re in Glenties next,” O’Donnell added. “People talk about the championship structures and that but I’ve not thought too much about it. It is what it is really and all we know is that we’ve a big game now this weekend. We’re trying to just get a few victories on the board, as it will mean a direct path to the quarter-finals and save playing an extra round.

“It was good to get the win against Kilcar, who are always a good team. The two points take the pressure off a little and we hope to build on that and get as many boys back on the pitch to try a thing or two. We’ve had players on the county panel so we’re all back now and even though you might catch a league game here and there throughout the year, it’s good when you get back into the training to see where exactly where we’re at and we’ll learn some more on Sunday against Naomh Conaill.”