Amid the injury turmoil O'Donnell committed himself to Munster by signing a new three-year deal at the start of December and last week made his long-awaited return to action in the GUINNESS PRO12 when he came on against Leinster.
But he says his thoughts are far from a return to international action as he looks to establish himself at Munster once more.
"Say, I finished rugby and was left with a bad hip - there's a lot worse things in life, so I was very happy to get back playing, and that's why it was easy to deal with it mentally," he said.
"The relief is going to be huge when you're potentially facing a career-ending injury. So it's very easy to say 'okay, I missed out on the World Cup, but I'm still going to be able to play rugby. I'm still going to be able to walk around.'
"It's been my run of bad luck that I've been injured when negotiating contracts. But it was a vote of confidence for me in Munster and for Munster in me, to get it done. I'm very happy to have it renewed and with the deal we came to and I'm looking forward to the three years.
"In my head, I'm focusing on returning to play. I've only played 20 minutes, so I haven't even really thought about Irish camp.
"I've not had a huge amount of contact with Joe. I met him here one day in UL and he was delighted to hear things were going well. I probably shouldn't have an involvement, I need to play games, I need to prove myself again."
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Guinness PRO12 Munster News
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