Stephen O’Donnell was devastated when a torn hamstring deprived him of his first ever Hampden semi final last month. Not only that but with Paul McGinn injured too he was in line to lead Motherwell into battle with Rangers at the national stadium.
It wasn’t to be as the 32-year-old suffered the agonising tear in the first half of the 2-1 win over Dundee United just four days before that League Cup semi defeat to the Ibrox side. But O’Donnell has bounced back quickly – and gunning to force his way back into the side ahead of the next opportunity to reach Hampden. He said: “I tore my hamstring. I’ve done it once before but it wasn’t as bad as that. The timing of it was pretty devastating. I was on the brink of possibly captaining, but more importantly, playing my first semi-final at Hampden.
“I’ve never achieved that. It’s not an achievement because you then want to go on and play in the final. But I was pretty disappointed. I’d set a target to try and be fit for the final, and I was. Obviously, I watched it on Sunday. It was a good game. The injury was just a frustration. There was no sign previously that it was going to happen. But I’m back fit, so it’s behind me, hopefully.
“The target now is to get to the semi-final as quickly as I can. The next one is the Scottish Cup and I would love it, and all the players would.”
Before that Motherwell face a hectic festive week starting this evening against his former club Kilmarnock at Fir Park before tackling both sides of the Old Firm in the space of three days with a Boxing Day trip to Celtic Park followed by a home meeting with Rangers.
O’Donnell will need to fight to oust Marvin Kaleta from the wide right berth as fourth-placed Well look to make it three wins on the spin. But in four years with the Steelmen the Scotland international has seen off his fair share of right backs and he reckons being Mr Reliable always helps.
He said: “I’m relatively consistent when I play. We make mistakes, we’re at fault for goals, but when you’re in the defence you tend to be, because it’s something you’re going to concede. There’s no defender in the world that’s never caused a goal.
“So, in all, I think trying to be consistent, I’m back fit, which is important for me, trying to prove it back in the team. But I think Marvin, Jair Tavares when he played, even Johnny Koutroumbis came in for a couple of games. I think there’s certainly strength and depth there.
“Before I got injured I was playing right of the three, so there’s flexibility within the squad and there’s flexibility within myself. It’s up to the manager to pick the team that he sees fit for the occasion. Hopefully, I can be at a stage where I’m as fit as possible and hopefully get back in sooner rather than later.”
O’Donnell enjoyed three years at tonight’s opponents and played a big part in the side that finished third in 2019. But even that isn’t enough to spare him from the Killie boo boys.
He said: “It wasn’t overly enjoyable last season when we went there. We were getting beat at Rugby Park, and I came on, and the boos… I was like ‘What… was I that bad?!’
“There are still a few boys there. You see the likes of Chris Burke, Kevin the kit man, plus Alan Archibald is there, one of my old managers. It’s nice to see familiar faces, but naturally when the whistle goes, you just look to try and beat them.”