Mulcahy tips U21 ace O’Donnell to get Clare call

Former Cork captain Pat Mulcahy believes 19-year old Shane O’Donnell will be handed the Clare number 14 shirt for Saturday’s All-Ireland hurling final replay.

Darach Honan lined out on edge of the square in the drawn encounter but was hauled ashore after 61 minutes, and consequently, Mulcahy expects the Éire Óg teenager — full-forward in the recent All-Ireland U21 win- to get the nod this weekend.

“There is talk of Shane O’Donnell starting and I think that will be the one change Davy makes,” said Mulcahy.

“If you look at it the last day, Podge Collins in the full-forward line was involved in nine scores of the 25 and Conor McGrath had the most possessions of any of the Clare team, but Darach Honan contributed very little.

“I would think with the amount of possession that was worked into the Clare full-forward line, Davy will be looking for more of a return. Shane O’Neill is very comfortable on Honan, Davy knows that and could put a smaller, nippier player in on top of him.

The Newtownshandrum man rubbished claims that Clare will struggle to replicate their September 8 endeavours. “I expect Clare to come with the same level of intensity as the last day, if not better. The challenge for Cork is to step up because their performance the last day wasn’t good enough.”

Honan aside, Clare’s offensive unit enjoyed the upper hand in the drawn game and the All-Ireland winning corner-back points to this area as one where Cork must rule the roost.

“Jimmy will have been looking at his own half-back line and playing Lorcan McLoughlin in a centre-back role, keeping Brian Murphy on Tony Kelly and bringing someone like Pa Cronin out to midfield.

“I think he will look at shutting down the space in front of the Clare full-forward line. The last day Brian Murphy was dragged out the field and it created space on which the Clare forwards thrived.”