Hurler of the Year Shane O’Donnell could yet play a pivotal role for All-Ireland champions Clare this summer.
O’Donnell, who underwent shoulder surgery back in February, returned to low paced running last week and is able to do gym work.
The double All-Ireland winner and two time league champion has no specific date for a possible return to action though, saying that it could be anywhere between four and eight weeks.
Clare open their Championship campaign at Cusack Park this Sunday, facing Cork in a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final, which they won after extra-time.
O’Donnell, who turns 31 in June, is certain to miss at least the first three rounds of Munster.
Clare face Waterford at Walsh Park in Round 2 on Sunday week, but don’t play after that until May 10, when they’re at home to Tipperary.
The Tipp game is just under four weeks away and is likely to be too soon for O’Donnell, but he could potentially be available for the tough Round 5 trip to Limerick on May 25.
The Munster Final is set for two weeks later and if Brian Lohan’s men make it, there’s a chance O’Donnell could play some part.
The Éire Óg Club man, who sustained a serious concussion in 2021 that threatened his future in the game, was initially ruled out for the season by Lohan.
But the three time All Star is working hard in the background with a view to playing some role as Clare bid to defend their Liam MacCarthy Cup title.
O’Donnell, a Bord Gáis ambassador, said: “I don't have any dates or anything like that. It's coming along well. I'm still a bit away to be honest.
“I'm still working with physios and I'm actually coming to the point where in the next week or so I should be able to hammer out and understand where it'll be.
“But it'll be anywhere between four and eight weeks still in it. That's the kind of timeline (I’m) looking at.
“Initially the surgeon told me it was six months recovery, so that was what I told Brian.
“That's my understanding of what it was. Six months later it's like July, August.
“So that was where I was coming from, and that was the best information we had at the time.
“That was the information that we used to make the decision that I had to get surgery. This was what I was staring down, that realistically your Clare campaign is not going to happen this year.
“I was still in a position that I had to get the surgery, so that's the narrative that Brian was trying to convey I think.”
O’Donnell is hoping to shave time off his recovery, but he says it’s “no big deal” if he has to sit back and watch a few Championship matches.
The specifics of the injury are a tear in the labrum on his right shoulder, and it happened initially in last year’s All-Ireland final, which he carried a hamstring problem into that forced him out of the game in extra-time.
“I got caught on my knees actually,” he explained. “I tried to turn around and ended up falling back onto my elbow. That was when the main injury happened.
“Then I just basically aggravated it in training there at the end of the year, and that was when I realised like, hold on a second, this isn't getting better.
“I've always had minor things with my shoulders. They’ve been sore. I'd rolled them a bit in a game and then it would just take a couple of weeks for them to settle.
“Because the All-Ireland final went straight into the club campaign, I just assumed at the end of the club campaign it would settle after I finished the games.
“So then it took a bit of time and then basically (I) went into a training (session) and just kind of made a move and it was very sore.
“I was just like, ‘Right, that's not okay,’ so I went to a consultant and she was, ‘If you want to play next year you're going to need surgery.’
“So that was the conversation. Then I had to make a decision under that information.”
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