AFTER a year away from the Donegal senior panel, Niall O’Donnell is enjoying his return to the team.
The St Eunan’s clubman has been plagued by injuries in the last few years and he decided to opt out of the county squad for last season’s campaign as he tried to get back to prime fitness.
He spent the summer in America playing for Donegal New York before he returned to join up with the Letterkenny men for the Senior Club Championship.
And while he has been training with the county side since the end of 2023, it has still been a long journey back for him, only starting his first Donegal game of 2024 in the Division 2 final against Armagh.
“Last year physically and mentally my body wasn’t ready to go there. I had a niggly knee injury for the last three or four years and I just felt I needed to get that sorted to get the best out of myself over the next few years hopefully.
“I took last year to do that and went to America to play for a great club in Donegal New York and I kind of wore the Donegal crest in a different way last year.
“There’s a lot of great people over in Donegal New York with Keelin McLaughlin and Peter ‘Oliver’ McNelis and lads like that looked after me and it brought a lot of enjoyment back for me after Covid.
“Being here again with the Donegal seniors is where I’ve wanted to be since I’ve been a young fella. I’d been here before but it was kind of like being back at square one again and being out there again on championship days, there’s just no better feeling.
“In 2022 I had injuries and wasn’t getting the best out of myself and when you’re involved in an environment when you’re not getting the best out of yourself then it is difficult and I took the year out to get the body right and everything freshened up and everything has kind of worked out perfect so far.
“If physically you’re not right then you’re not going to be able to enjoy it so thank God I was able to get out and playing there.
“The medical team have had a big push to get me right, it was no easy fix so the likes of Shane McClean, Antoin McFadden, Charlie McManus and Joe O’Donnell have spent hours and hours to get me out there and it’s a credit to them to get me back out there.”
A quick turnaround for the Tyrone game is far from ideal, but their opponents are even worse off for it, having went to extra time with Cavan last Sunday.
O’Donnell felt good coming out of the Derry game however and it’s back to preparing for the semi-final now for Donegal.
“It’s one of the things with the way the structure is at the minute that it’s game on game and we’re going to have to get ready for that game now.
“There’s no silverware handed out yet and it’s a massive step forward for this group but we can’t take one step forward and two steps back, so we have to try and take two steps forward this week and next week and keep pushing.
“We’ll take this week to get the bodies right because it wasn’t easy out there, it was a big push in both the mental and physical side so hopefully we’ll get everything right for next weekend and go again.
“We’ll see how it goes, Tyrone are pushing hard.”
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