Donnellan opts for tactful approach
The time afforded by the Offaly referee was enough for Domhnall O’Donovan to cancel out Pat Horgan’s stunning point, which threatened to hand Clare a most unlikely defeat.
Did it make up for the calls that went against Clare earlier in the game? Not a chance, says Donnellan.
“I don’t know now, I suppose I would be a bit biased anyway. I wouldn’t think they would be equalled that much.
“There might have been no necessity for extra-time if we were ahead a bit more. You are going to get things happening in games, we are not going to be cribbing and moaning about those kind of things.”
The O’Callaghan Mills man isn’t as certain on just who has the initiative going into the September 28 replay.
“I haven’t a clue. I don’t know how you are going to measure that. I think it’s even again. They are probably delighted they have another day out and probably a bit disappointed that they didn’t play as well as they like and we are definitely delighted to have another day out because at the end we thought we were going home.
“We probably should have lost it too so we’ll be realistic about it. If we play as well as we can we’d be hoping that we’ll be good enough to win it.”
Donnellan’s positioning in midfield on Sunday was surprising given his sweeping role this summer, as much as he’s played there for years.
“We worked at it in training for a couple of weeks. We do a lot of things during the year for days like yesterday, working on different tactics and systems. It’s nothing more than we do any day. I suppose we were just a bit more conventional maybe, went man to man.”
Colin Ryan said the decision to go conventional and their reasonable success applying it showed Clare’s adaptability.
“Listen, we’ve some fantastic players and I think Davy sets us out in a way that we think we’re going to win games and if that involves a sweeper then it involves a sweeper. But we can play different ways and I think we’ve shown that over the years.”
Ryan showed a different kind of versatility in overcoming two second half wides from placed frees to return to his usual accurate self near the end.
“I’ve done an awful lot of work on it this year. You’re always going to get a rise that goes wrong or something like that and you just have to deal with these things and get over them.”
The second half goal opportunity he spurned weighs a little more on him than the wides. “I probably should have given a pass out to Conor McGrath for one and Podge [Collins] could have got a kick in for another one. We didn’t take them but we still got away with it.”
