Clare U21 hurlers have been dealt the hammer blow that Shane O'Donnell may miss the remainder of the season after suffering a broken hand in the Munster U21HC final against Cork on Wednesday.

Last year's All-Ireland final hat-trick hero had only just returned from a hamstring injury and notched a goal in Wednesday's decider to help Clare to their third consecutive Munster U21 success.

O'Donnell tweeted: "3 months with hamstring, first game back and my hand is fractured… Won't be hurling by 25 if I keep shipping these hits."

Clare joint-manager Donal Moloney confirmed the news but remains optimistic that he could return for an All-Ireland final, should they reach it.

"It is hard on Shane because he only got back two weeks ago, when he came on for 10 minutes against Tipperary," he told the Irish Independent.

"But we're told it should only take four weeks to heal so, hopefully it will go as expected."

Clare now play Antrim in the All-Ireland semi-final on August 23rd, in what is a rematch of last year's final. Tweet

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