Clare’s non-scoring defender proves to be the great leveller

And so it will be written into folklore – at least for the next three weeks – that when Clare had one last shot to save their All-Ireland title hopes, the ball fell into the hands of the only player on the field that they did not want it to.

With the clock running at 72 minutes and 29 seconds, nothing left only the time it would take to take for the final whistle to be blown, Clare needed their sharpest assassin, a guided missile, some blazing laser beam, or indeed anything at all expect for Domhnall O’Donovan.

Here was their corner back, the only man who could not score in the 20-point win over Laois earlier in the summer, when every other Clare outfield player could; here was the man who had never scored for Clare in the championship; here was the man about to fall over as he set himself up the shot.

So what O’Donovan did with that shot went beyond reason, and indeed words. Except to say on an afternoon at least partly marked by Clare’s repeated fist pumping, O’Donovan afforded himself the most deserving of them all, moments after his shot somehow dropped between the Cork posts.

It did however take a while to register, and still seemed to be registering in O’Donovan’s mind long after that final whistle: yet how utterly fitting that after a summer of hurling that no true admirer wanted to end, his shot ensured another chapter is still to be written.

“Well I did have a bit of a look, so I wouldn’t be closing my eyes and shooting,” he says, recalling his shot with modesty and just a hint of the heroic. “Growing up, my left side was always my best side, even though I’m a right handed hurler. Although the lads said it went so high in the sky they didn’t know where it was going.”

White flag
Indeed no one did, until the umpire reached down for the white flag: luckily for us the 25-year-old from Clonlara can also happily recall how exactly he ended up with the ball.

“Well Patrick Kelly had the ball, for the puck out. I wasn’t looking for the ball, but I just said to myself I’d make myself available. Because my job as a defender is over. I mean, if Cork scored again, it wouldn’t make a difference. So I just said I’ll make myself available, and if he thinks I’m the right person to give the ball to he can.

“But, somehow it went to Pat O’Connor and Nicky O’Connell, and then Nicky popped it out to me. It was a bit of hit and hope. And I hit it falling over. I didn’t see the ball too much as it went over. I just heard the crowd so thankfully I kind of knew then that the game was saved.”

Ridicule
O'Donovan had found himself the source of some mild ridicule on the social networks, after he'd failed to score against Laois: "I actually tweeted myself, saying people should stop slagging me about not scoring, or I'll get notions about myself. Even the sponsor, Pat O'Donnell, was giving me a bit of a slagging about it."

The word around Clare training in recent weeks too was that manager Davy Fitzgerald had been warning O’Donovan not to be even try a shot, but to make sure he passed off to someone who knows where the posts actually are. So what did Fitzgerald say to him coming off the field this time?

“Just that they can say what they want about your shooting now.”

“I think everyone had their head in their hands, when I had the ball, and when I was shooting. But it managed to go over, thankfully.”

Yet even in those few seconds when he had the ball, O’Donovan was briefly split between taking the shot and passing off to somehow who might have a better chance of scoring. He thought about it and then chose wisely

“With every pass, there’s a percentage chance of it being intercepted. I thought about the probability of that person getting a pass, weighed up the options, and thought I’d give it a go anyway, even though I wouldn’t be the best shooter. So it was a crazy feeling when it went over.

“I didn’t focus on it too much though. I just heard the crowd and I knew the ball had gone over the bar. So I just sprinted back, the ‘what if’ scenario, that maybe there might be a few seconds left for Cork to score, so I had to get back.”

Equalising point
Not that O'Donovan's role on the day was in any way limited to that equalising point. He'd done his part over the 70-plus minutes to hold off the Cork forwards, reflected in the fact both Luke O'Farrell and Jamie Coughlan were left scoreless.

“I’m just happy whenever my man doesn’t score too much, and I can keep him outside me, and thankfully I got out in front for a few a good of them. Even at the end I didn’t think it was gone because we were always to-ing and fro-ing quite a bit. But when Pat Horgan scored that last point, I was worried then.

“But you have to throw off the shackles and do something. I was a small bit conscious that time was up. When Stephen Moylan took that last sideline, and it went wide, I knew there was less than 30 seconds of the injury time left, so I just said there’ s no point defending any more. Just get up and attack because it’ll be the last play.”

And what a last play it was.