Clare have been dealt a significant blow in their bid to retain the All-Ireland hurling title after 2024 Hurler of the Year Shane O'Donnell was ruled out for the remainder of this year's campaign due to injury.
The Éire Óg Ennis forward has won back-to-back All-Stars to go with last year's outstanding individual award and was expected to play a key role in the summer.
The 31-year-old has not taken part in the Allianz League this year – as has been his approach in 2023 and 2024 – but underwent surgery three weeks ago on a shoulder injury picked up in last year's All-Ireland final.
It rules him out of both the Munster Championship round-robin matches as well as the All-Ireland series.
O'Donnell suffered a serious concussion at training back in 2021, which almost saw him retire from the sport entirely. Instead, he has pared back his involvement, only lining out for the Banner for the inter-county championship.
"For me the season is too long. It would be too long for me to start hurling in December and play and train all the ways through to July at inter-county level and then continue with the club.
"Physically my body would not survive that, I know that now. Also from a work perspective, it's not compatible.
"It came about because of the concussion – I ended up having a long off-season the year after and I felt like I got the best out of my body in a long time – and I had the conversation with Brian Lohan and negotiated this shorter season.
"It served me well, and I think it would serve a lot of players well."
Clare are without a win in their opening three games of the Allianz Hurling League and are facing relegation from Division 1A ahead of a Munster Championship campaign that they are surely targeting, having not won the provincial title since 1998.
