Dream week for O’Donoghue
By Shane Brophy
Oisin O’Donoghue has had an eight day period will never forget. On Saturday 10th, he made his senior championship debut as a 46th minute substitute in the win over Clare. Four days later, he took the confidence from that in producing a man of the match performance in this Munster under 20 final win over Clare, and then last Sunday, came off the bench to score 1-1 late on for the seniors against Waterford to progress to the next stage of the championship.
“It is an absolute privilege every time you get to put on the blue and gold jersey, and I find myself in a fortunate position that I am doing it often and I’m delighted with how things are going,” admitted the Cashel King Cormacs clubman following the Munster final win who scored 1-3 from play and won five frees which were turned into scores.
“The ball that was coming in was unreal, and I was blessed that it was sticking,” he added.
“Other games they don’t stick, and I have been on the other end of those games.”
“You can understand why the ball wasn’t coming in as often as the pressure Clare were putting on was unreal and trying to counteract that we found difficult.
“When they went down to fourteen men, it opened the game up and we battled through it then.”
The nineteen-year-old was part of the side that lost to Offaly in last years All-Ireland Final and is relishing the opportunity to go one step further on the June Bank Holiday weekend.
“The motivation is definitely there from last years All-Ireland,” he admitted.
“But then, we bottled the loss from the Limerick game in the first round which we have carried the whole way up to now. Our mission is not to feel like that again, we promised ourselves we wouldn’t and let down the jersey like that again so we will just stay going and stand by that.”
It has been an incredible few weeks for O’Donoghue who is still eligible for under 20 next year, and contributing for the seniors as well, he is going with the flow.
“It has brought me on leaps and bounds,” he said of playing with the seniors this year.
“Going into training with the likes of Noel McGrath and Ronan Maher, John McGrath, Jake Morris, is unbelievable. The things they show you are so simple you wouldn’t even realise it until you go out and do it.”