Donegal and St Eunan’s stalwart Shane O’Donnell took the spotlight yesterday as Donegal capped off their stunning comeback against Monaghan.
They charged from seven points down to win by six in one of the finest second-halves of football any Donegal team has played.
Their ticket has now been booked for a return to the All-Ireland Semi-Final in two weeks, where one of the potential draws could be a rematch against a Tyrone side that have been the only team to best Jim McGuinness’ men in the 2025 Championship so far.
Shane O’Donnell was rewarded for his hard work and three-point scoring performance with the Man of the Match award – however individual plaudits were the last thing on his mind.
“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.”
He told media after winning the award that he decided to back himself as his Donegal side had their backs against the wall.
“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.”
“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.”
As for the much-discussed frantic scheduling Donegal have faced with their games, O’Donnell credited his team’s second-half response.
“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.”
