BRAIN & BRAWN
Inside Clare ace Shane O’Donnell’s incredibly impressive life outside GAA – including PhD stint at Harvard University
He has history with Cork in All-Ireland finals...
SHANE O'DONNELL is the current favourite to scoop Hurler of the Year having had an electric season even by his lofty standards.
He wasn't as central to Saturday's comeback against Kilkenny as you would have envisioned - but still chipped in with one point.
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Often times commentators will hail a star player for having an exceptional 'hurling brain'.
Well in this case you can broaden that out to him possessing an exceptional human one.
The 30-year-old completed a PhD in microbology in 2021 and followed that up with a six-month Fulbright scholarship at Harvard University - as you do.
According to his LinkedIn page, he currently works as a Product Manager for UK-based Sano Genetics.
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If all that sounds a bit beyond your comprehension (Don't worry, you're not alone), one career objective of his is easier to understand, if not attain.
Upon receiving the PWC Player of the Month gong for May, he shared his long-held desire to one day be an astronaut.
The two-time All-Star readily admitted competition would be fierce the next time the European Space Agency runs one of its once-a-decade recruiting drives.
But there is a logical train of thought behind why he could be considered an adequate candidate.
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He noted: “It’s something I always wanted to do but it’s something probably everybody wants to do when they’re small. But it does tie in with my studies as well.
“They do look for researchers to go to space and microbiome research is what I did my PhD on.
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"They do actually do quite a lot of microbiome research on the ISS [International Space Station], to try and understand how microbiomes survive in zero gravity, how different organisms are surviving and interacting in zero-gravity environments.
“So that’s something that ties very nicely with research that I did. I’d be basically going to complete the research up there.”
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Given he has such lofty goals in life, it wasn't terribly surprising when he conceded this might be his final season in the blue and gold.
He added: “I won’t rule out playing next year but I wouldn’t absolutely say, ‘Yeah, I would’ as well.
“I’m really enjoying my hurling. I don’t want to retire next year but I don’t know what’ll happen outside of hurling from a work perspective.
"It could be that it just makes sense for me to move abroad and kind of retire.”
O’Donnell insisted the outcome of his pursuit of a second Celtic Cross will not influence the call he makes at the end of the season.
But in the knowledge that the end is closer than the beginning, the Éire Óg man is savouring every moment while he can.
“There’s no definite decision but I am aware going into some of these games that these could be some of the last days that I do this and I appreciate it more.
"I kind of take in the pre-match a bit more.”