INJURY NEWS:DERMOT EARLEY'S availability for the All-Ireland football semi-final against Down on August 29th will be revealed tomorrow.
The veteran All Star midfielder was helped from the field after just four minutes of Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Meath. Kildare recovered to knock out the Leinster champions.
Earley goes for a scan today and it seems unlikely he will fully recover from damaged cruciate knee ligament he has been nursing since the National Football league.
A current All Star, he previously won the accolade in 1998, the last time Kildare progressed to an All-Ireland final only to be beaten by Galway, Earley would be a significant loss ahead of the unique meeting with Down who shocked the GAA world by dethroning champions Kerry on Saturday.
Earley has four weeks to recover.
Cork are also awaiting news on captain Graham Canty, who clearly damaged his hamstring when striding forward to punch a point in their defeat of Roscommon on Sunday.
Ciarán Sheehan’s ankle is another major worry as he left Croke Park last Sunday on crutches.
Cork manager Conor Counihan also hopes to see Eoin Cadogan back in the football panel after next weekend. The hurling fullback would be an ideal replacement for Canty, as Michael Shields would probably be freed into the half-back line although John Miskella remains another obvious option having come on against Roscommon.
Cadogan is expected to feature for the hurlers in Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny at Croke Park.
He would have been available for the football panel against the Connacht champions only for, as Counihan revealed, a minor injury.
If Cork are beaten by Kilkenny he will almost certainly be available for the football semi-final against Dublin on August 22nd but a Cork victory may force Cadogan to choose between the two sports with hurling the favourite to gain his full attention.
Cork’s Teddy McCarthy is the only man to have won both All-Ireland’s in the same year, 1990.
Meanwhile, Cork’s opponents in three weeks’ time were buoyed by the return of Cian O’Sullivan, coming on as a substitute against Tyrone.
Last year’s under-21 captain was a central figure in the Dublin defence during the National League but he has struggled with a hamstring injury that appears to have fully healed.
