CORK WILL HAVE three absentees for Sunday’s Munster football championship semi-final with Clare in Páirc Uí Rinn (3.30pm).
Ahead of what will be only the second senior championship game at the venue, and the first since Cork’s win over Limerick in 1999, John O’Rourke, Tom Clancy of Clonakilty and Ian Maguire are all ruled out through injury.
“We have three not available,” said Cork selector Ronan McCarthy.
“Tom ‘Clon’ [to differentiate him from Tomás Clancy of Fermoy] is unavailable, he’s coming back from an ankle injury he suffered with the club.
“John O’Rourke still hasn’t recovered from the injury he got in the Dublin game, he’s a few weeks away still. Ian Maguire, while he’s back now, he’s only getting fully involved in training again and he’s still a number of weeks away.
“He’s not really doing contact yet but he’s doing almost everything else. We have to watch him carefully, it was a serious enough injury.
“In fairness to the medical team, they’ve brought him back gradually, there has been no setback.”
Stephen Cronin of Nemo Ranger and Kieran Histon (Cobh) are recent additions to the squad since the league final loss, while 2010 All-Ireland winner Alan O’Connor is also back. His return has been a big boost, according to McCarthy.
“To be fair to him, he has looked after himself brilliantly in the time he hasn’t been involved in the intercounty scene,” he said.
“He has really slotted back into it, almost ideally really. He brings an awful lot, not just the way he plays the game but what he brings to training and in leadership and so on.
“He has brilliant and it has been a great call to bring him back.”
