In 2013, we had the Shane O'Donnell final.
He was in his first senior season and barely 19 years old but scored a replay hat-trick inside the same number of minutes to give Clare the platform for All-Ireland SHC glory against Cork.
Will history repeat itself tomorrow or can the Rebels find their own young hero at full-forward and reverse the result on the big day?
Now 30, the man from Ennis is the fulcrum of the Banner attack and looks certain to win a third All-Star in a row, a remarkable achievement given he missed the 2021 season with a concussion that threatened his hurling career.
For a long time, Clare relied on his team-mate Tony Kelly for their spark but it was O’Donnell who led the ultimately futile resistance to Kilkenny in the semi-final defeats of 2022 (when he scored 0-04 from play) and 2023 (1-01).
He contributed just one point against the Cats this year, turning double All-Star full-back Huw Lawlor to do so, but also set up points for team-mates and won multiple frees, despite being unable to stem the bleeding from an injured hand after the 23rd minute.
O'Donnell has a doctorate in microbiology and, in an era of unprecedented aversion to the spotlight, has not been afraid to speak his mind: taking the GAA to task after his personal experience of being out of pocket due to injury and calling for the scrapping of the hurling league – he credits sitting out the early months of the year for not having already retired.
"He was a breath of fresh air then and he’s a breath of fresh air now," says Michael Duignan, who won two All-Ireland titles as a forward with Offaly. "He’s not your typical GAA player. He’s very open. He’s gone to Harvard, he has done a PhD, wants to be an astronaut. I’d say if he wants to be he will be.
"He has developed hugely as a player. That time [2013], with no disrespect to him, he could hardly puck the ball over the bar from 30 yards out. He was lighter, weaker, but he had an eye for goal and great skill."
O'Donnell describes himself as 5'10 (1.78 metres) tall but he looks shorter. Though maybe that’s because of the characteristic stooping stride that makes him so hard to stop once in motion anywhere inside the opposition half.
Either way, he usually gives away a few inches to every defender assigned to mark him. But a leap like a basketball player and the ability to catch and hold onto the sliotar as if he’s wearing a baseball glove (© Brendan Cummins) make him one of the best possession winners in the game and someone who is frequently fouled when he has it.
"His ability in the air is unnatural," says Duignan. "He’s not small and he’s not huge but he can spring, his timing is unbelievable and he’s very brave. Bullets of balls on the ground that you would think you could hardly get your hurl to, he’s down and it’s first time into his hand.
"These are massive skills and the ability to get the ball into his hand so quickly is the game-changer. Then he has that extra yard or two and he’s gone with his balance and pace.
"He’s so selfless and such a team player but now he has brought that scoring ability, particularly more points as well. He can play 14, 11, 10 , 12, it doesn’t matter. He can disrupt all over the forward line.
"He has become their key player and especially in the absence of Tony Kelly [for most of this season]."
Who will mark him?
"Niall O’Leary might be the one who picks him up. Sean O’Donoghue is under a bit of a pressure. Aaron Gillane [one of the few to match O’Donnell for getting out in front of his man and turning at speed] gave him a roasting the last day, scored six points from play and to me was man of the match, even though Brian Hayes got 1-04.
"Sean was very hard on himself about getting that second yellow [in Cork's Munster defeat to Clare] and that’s in his mind. He’s the captain of the team. You have to clear the head for the big day."
O’Donnell has scored 2-12 (all from play) in seven games so far this year but has also set up goals for Aidan McCarthy, his usual partner in a two-man full-forward line, against Limerick, Mark Rodgers (v Cork), Diarmuid Ryan (v Tipperary) and great goal chances for David Reidy (v Limerick) and David Fitzgerald (against Waterford).
GOAL CLARE!
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) April 21, 2024
David McInerney launches a long ball to the influential Shane O'Donnell, who feeds Aidan McCarthy and he blasts the ball to the roof of the net
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"A lot of people look at forwards and think if they’re not scoring they’re not being effective but what Shane O’Donnell is doing when he’s not scoring is so important to Clare," says former Tipperary midfielder Shane McGrath.
"He’s creating space, he’s drawing attention from one or two defenders, he’s assisting and he’s winning frees.
"When Cork played Clare, he had 11 possessions in the first half, scored a point, won three frees, three assists and won a sideline.
"Him and Darragh Fitzgibbon are the two frontrunners for Hurler of the Year at the moment."
If O’Donnell is the livewire roaming ball-winner then Cork’s 14 is closer to the classic full-forward, rarely stepping outside the 45 and tasked with finishing over supply.
Alan Connolly, an All-Ireland U20 champion in 2020, is a nephew of legendary Rebel half-backs Tom and Jim Cashman but, like O’Donnell, has also made his name as goal-scorer.
He bagged two on his senior debut against Waterford in the Covid-delayed 2021 Allianz Hurling League, despite only coming on as a substitute with five minutes remaining, and another brace against Westmeath. A championship bow came as a late replacement for Shane Kingston in the Munster semi-final defeat to Limerick, a fortnight before his 20th birthday. That was a role he reprised against Clare (0-01), Dublin (0-01), and Kilkenny but he was an unused sub as the Treaty trounced Cork in the final.
Connolly was still an impact sub against Limerick in the first round of Munster the following year but got on early in the defeat against Clare and scored a goal that signalled a potential shift in Cork’s options, the deceptively quick 6’1 (1.85m) man winning a long delivery from Robbie O’Flynn. Two more green flags followed on his first championship start, against Waterford, and another against Tipperary. Though he was denied another by Galway keeper Éanna Murphy in a quarter-final exit the youngster looked set to be the mainstay upfront for 2023.
But the Blackrock man didn’t wear the red jersey for 21 months as shoulder and hamstring injuries left him in "a dark place".
Half-time: Tipperary 1-12 Cork 1-15
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 19, 2024
The half opens and closes with a goal, with Alan Connolly's major moment sending Cork fans in the Town End delirious.
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After three goals in his first start back, against Offaly in March, Connolly suggested he was now fully fit for the first time in three years and joked that his goal-scoring feats were down to the fact that he is "Just lazy and stay around the goal and take my chances".
He bagged another treble against Wexford the following week and his first championship hat-trick in the demolition of Tipperary in the last round of Munster. He had also contributed 1-05 against Waterford, 0-02 against Clare and the same tally in the do-or-die win over Limerick.
"It’s early days to see if he becomes a Shane O’Donnell but he certainly has that ability," Duignan says. "O’Donnell is more movement, balance and laying the ball off. He’s probably more complete but that will come with time as well.
"Alan Connolly is a different type of player. He’s very direct. He has made his name on heading for the goals and has scored some brilliant ones. He’s fearless, he’s very fast and inexperienced but that’s great, he has no fear.
"Eddie Brennan was the king of goals for a long time and this man has that characteristic as well"
"Going back to the 70s, 80s, 90s, Cork always had a Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Seánie O’Leary, Kevin Henesssy inside that would hurt you and score goals. There’s no doubt that that’s what’s on this man’s mind. If he sniffs a one-on-one or an overlap he’s heading for the goal and I love that.
"Eddie Brennan was the same. There are great players that score an awful lot of points but not that many that always head for the goals. Eddie was the king of goals for a long time and this man has that characteristic as well."
Connolly was held scoreless in the preliminary quarter-final against Offaly and last six against Dublin but manager Pat Ryan said he had been the most affected by an illness in the camp and probably should have sat out the win over the Faithful rather than playing 44 minutes.
His former U20 team-mate 6’4 (1.93m) Brian Hayes operates more as the primary ball-winner and stole the headlines against Limerick with a superb 1-04. It would have been 2-04 but for a handpass from Connolly being incorrectly called a throw.
The MTU Business Information Systems student also scored three points himself, including a turnover off Declan Hannon, as part of a three-man full-forward line with the ageless Patrick Horgan, which left his senior career tally still a remarkably top-heavy 19-29.
Duignan believes the man who turned 23 on Friday can have a big impact on tomorrow’s decider.
"I thought the three points the last day showed another side of him as well, that he’s versatile. We did see that assist for Hayes’ goal that was disallowed so he might have that vision.
"That was important for him. I was at the previous two games against Offaly and Dublin and he hardly got on the ball at all, after the high of the Munster championship.
"The last day will have been huge for him going into the All-Ireland final.
"It would be no surprise if he did score a couple of goals on Sunday and he certainly has a massive career ahead of him."
The young gun or the old hand? Whoever shoots cleanest could decide the destination of Liam MacCarthy.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Cork v Clare, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
