I found out I was playing two hours before throw-in

CLARE's hat-trick hero Shane O'Donnell joked he will return to UCC over the next few days to rub it into the faces of his Cork college mates.

The Éire Óg Ennis teenager, who is in his second year studying genetics, said he didn't intend on skipping too many days of lectures in the coming week: "I might miss one but sure I don’t want to miss too much of rubbing it in their face when I go down to them!"

Davy Fitzgerald revealed he only told O'Donnell he was starting two hours prior to throw-in and the player corroborated the story. "When we were getting food I got brought aside and I didn’t know before that. Davy brought me aside and just said I was starting. I didn’t know before that. I thought it was brilliant, I always wanted to start. But I was a bit surprised alright.