TG4 Underdogs has given former Limerick hurler Robert O'Donnell "a new sense of life"

LIMERICK'S Robert O'Donnell plays on the Underdogs team against the Waterford senior hurlers this Saturday evening in the finale of the TG4 TV series.

The game from the SETU Arena in Waterford will be live on TG4 from 8pm.

For O'Donnell the journey through the TG4 TV series has "given me a new sense of life".

"My reputation in life hasn’t been great down through the years but that was all part of my struggle and the breakdown that happened to me because I couldn’t see that life was worth living. The last couple of years those struggles helped me develop a set of morals and a character which is more grounded and sustainable to my life going forward. I’m more comfortable in myself and more confident in myself now to go and live a life that is going to be successful. People will resonate with it and it might give them the encouragement to go on and achieve what they want to achieve," O'Donnell told the Limerick Leader.

Pallasgreen native O'Donnell played U21 hurling with Limerick in 2012 - he was introduced as a substitute in the Munster Championship defeat to Tipperary in a Limerick team which had Dan Morrissey at full back, Declan Hannon at centre back and Shane Dowling in the attack. 

In 2013, O'Donnell was full back on the Mary Immaculate College team managed by Eamonn Cregan that lost the Fitzgibbon Cup final.

In 2015, O'Donnell started three games midfield as Limerick reached the Munster Intermediate Final - losing to Cork. While team-mates like Sean Finn, Richie English, Diarmaid Byrnes, Darragh O'Donovan and Tom Morrissey are now household names and multiple All-Ireland SHC winners, O'Donnell spiralled.

Drugs and alcohol were his vices and ultimately it wasn't until a spell in a psychiatric unit that O'Donnell began to feel "more Robert".

"I’ve come more into myself these last couple of years and I’m not playing a different character - I’m more Robert now than I ever was so I feel it’s easy for me to speak out," he explains.

"My goal for all of this (TG4 Underdogs) was that if I come out of it with the belief that I am good enough I think it would give me a greater confidence going on in life - that’s what I’m looking for out of it. A bit of redemption I suppose," he said.

“I had a void inside that wasn’t filled and I knew there was something majorly wrong.”

Labhair fear Luimnigh Robert O’Donnell go hionraic faoina mheabhairshláinte.@PallasgreenGAA @LimerickCLG | #UnderdogsTG4 pic.twitter.com/8sAGRkU2Gg

— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) September 29, 2022

O'Donnell now hopes that his journey and struggles can help others.

"My hurling has become an avenue to make a difference in the country and the world - I’m not sure what's left in my hurling career but I do think it’s an avenue for me to help others, which I am passionate about. My life has involved a lot of conflict so for me now to be able to hurl with freedom and not get in trouble is my main aim and I think I have done that."

O'Donnell featured prominently in recent weeks as the reality TV show progressed from trials to the final squad selection ahead of this evening's live game.

"The response has been very humbling - it’s an acknowledgement for what I have done and what I have been through. There has been a sense of relief that I have been acknowledged as a hurler too, which is where I have always tried to prove myself. If my career finishes after this I will be happy with what I have done. I’m 31 now and I’m enjoying my hurling more because this particular environment is somewhere I can be myself and hurl away and not try and do it all," he said. 

The Underdogs series was open to male players, over the age of 18, who have never played with an inter-county team in the Liam MacCarthy Cup. There are 16 different counties represented in the final 31-man panel. O'Donnell is the only Limerick player on a panel.

"I believe that anyone who is in there is there because they believe they are an underdog. I remember Jack Tyrrell spoke about that when he was staying it’s about not giving yourself a chance to win or to just go on and do whatever you want. I genuinely always had the underdog mentality and that’s why my career was limited and that’s why I would get so far with Limerick but I couldn’t go further because I had an underdog mentality where I was thinking maybe I’m not good enough," said O'Donnell

"I just said to myself Rob it’s about enjoying hurling because my whole life I took hurling so seriously - I was too intense, I was too driven towards winning. Now I am coming down from that and hurling with freedom as John Allen says. Personally to go through this process and the bond that has been created with the lads - it’s a bit like the Fitzgibbon in 2013 because the whole journey of it is very enjoyable and I will take that to my grave. This has given me a new sense of life. I’m enjoying my hurling because there is no expectation and it’s a new environment and I can be myself. If I end my career on this I will be happy because I will be doing so hurling with freedom."