Shane O'Donnell insists that Clare won’t get carried away by ending an eight-year wait for a trophy with victory in the Allianz Hurling League.
The Banner had lost two All-Ireland semi-finals in a row to Kilkenny but came good in the Division 1 decider on Saturday night, which should boost confidence ahead of a Munster rematch with their provincial final conquerors Limerick in a fortnight.
Manager Brian Lohan said after the game that he felt the win was "crucial", though that may have been based more on the opposition than the prize on offer.
The Clare fans flooded onto the pitch at Semple Stadium to watch Conor Cleary collect the cup but the players’ celebrations were notably restrained.
"It’s important but I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on it to be honest with you," said 2013 All-Ireland winner O’Donnell.
"We’ve kind of talked about it as well, if we looked back to 2016, the last time that Clare won the league, and then we went out in the first round of the championship and we lost [to Waterford].
"I think anyone in a county set up at the moment would take that swap, losing the league final and then winning the first round of the championship.
"If that happens in two weeks, nobody’s going to be remembering that we won the league and patting us on the back so I think we need to keep it in context."
O’Donnell came on at half-time for his first appearance of the season. He was immediately involved in the action, playing an exchange of passes with David Reidy that led to a goal for David Fitzgerald.
"You wouldn’t dream of a better [first] touch," he said. "Someone just literally hands it to you, they take it off you, do all the leg work and it ends up in the net.
"It really did settle me. You’re kind of thinking you do want to make some impact when you come on and without much effort from me, it had a big impact for the game so yeah, it was a nice way to start the second half."
The Éire Óg forward’s most recent appearance for the county had come in the All-Ireland last-four defeat to the Cats last July.
"A little bit nervous going out," he admitted. "I think once I got onto the pitch and the game started that ebbed away. But yeah, It’s been probably six months since I last played a negative game, you do want to get a ball in your hand, essentially.
"I’ve kind of been battling with a small bit of a longer-term injury but I came back about six weeks ago, started to get back into some running with the physios, that kind of thing, and basically built it from there.
"So maybe two or three weeks doing that and then edging back into hurling training basically, as if you’re coming back from injury is kind of how it works so you don’t jump straight into 100% training and blow the hamstring."
The 35 minutes in Thurles were O’Donnell’s first in the league in three years, having adopted a more gradual resumption to playing since he suffered a serious concussion in June 2021.
"I kind of have it timed alright," he said. "It’s kind of early March, kind of get back into it and start that running and everything and then build it from there so yeah, it’s timed reasonably nicely."
Will he be able to get up to the pitch of a championship clash against the Munster and All-Ireland champions if asked to start on 21 April?
"I feel like I’m able to do whatever they want me to do. We’ll see what they want me to do."
