Garda escort called as Shaneomania runs wild

Shaneomania is sweeping the country.

As the new poster boy of hurling, Shane O’Donnell is coming to grips with his newfound fame.

The only problem is that most of the female population are trying to come to grips with him.

The 19-year-old hat-trick heart-throb had to be rescued by gardaí after being mobbed by female fans outside Sixmilebridge’s GAA clubhouse on Wednesday night.

“It was something akin to a pop star situation, with Shane being mobbed by the screaming fans,” said Insp Tom Kennedy.

“Shane was, without sounding dramatic, trapped or marooned inside the clubhouse and a Garda intervention was requested to get him safely out of there.”

He said the intervention was “both for Shane’s safety and the safety of the fans outside”.

The star, who scored 3-3 in the All-Ireland final against Cork, and his team-mates were at manager Davy Fitzgerald’s home ground to play the annual Goal charity match, at which where 6,000 fans turned out to meet their heroes. He spent more than an hour signing autographs.

Team-mate Podge Collins tweeted a picture from the scene asking “first man to get a Garda escort out of a GAA dressing room?”

First man to get a Garda escort out of a GAA dressing room? @townhurler pic.twitter.com/4FX6JCeGrB

— Seán Collins (@Seancol89) October 2, 2013

“Shane couldn’t come out for fear of being mobbed,” said Insp Kennedy. “It wouldn’t have been safe for anyone’s safety, least himself. There was an awful lot of crushing and pushing.”

Gardaí escorted the UCC genetics student past his fans into a waiting patrol car outside the building.

He was driven to the waiting team bus which took the Éire Óg clubman and his Clare teammates out of Sixmilebridge.