O’Donoghue is ready to fly with Dragons again
SHANE O’Donoghue will return to Belgium to join back up with national champions KHC Dragons at the end of August.
The highly-rated Ireland international will again part ways with Glenanne, after having helped them to this year’s EY Hockey league title.
Knocklyon man Shane O'Donoghue will part ways with Glenanne to return to Belgium where he will rejoin Dragons
“I was so indecisive about playing abroad,” O’Donoghue told The Echo. “Being back at home with family and friends, you can fall back into that comfort zone and not really look for a new challenge.
“I am a little apprehensive. This is a new [Dragons] team and some of the guys I was very close with have moved on, but they have brought in some young talent.
“It’s going to be a little bit different for me [from his last spell with Dragons] because now I’ll be more of a leader looking to bring the younger players on.
“They have been very successful over recent years. They’ve won two titles since I left, that’s four in a row, so it’d be foolish not to expect them to be challenging for play-offs and titles.”
Speaking about is departure from Glenanne, the Knocklyon man said, “One of the reasons I came back [to Ireland] was to study and to get the chance to play again with guys with whom I started out on my career.
“I really enjoyed moving to St Andrew’s and I think I’m leaving the club in a good place and I hope they can keep doing well.
New challenge
“It was great to win the EY League and it would have really have put the icing on the season if we could have won the Champions Trophy too, but I’m looking forward to this new challenge.
“There were options there like playing in Holland, but the Dragons were very supportive of me the last time and I’m really looking forward to heading back over there,” he said
O’Donoghue will be keeping one on the forthcoming World Cup at the end of the year and believes the move to Belgium will help him in his preparation for international duty.
“Playing at a high level every week, it’s not much of a step up when you play internationally. It’s just a matter of a different style or tactics.
“We have a number of players playing on the continent and I think that will be good for the [national] team,” he insisted.
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