SOME NOTABLE NAMES will be absent from the Cork senior hurling panel for the 2016 championship, which begins for the Rebels with a Munster quarter-final against Tipperary on 22 May.
Reports indicate that former captains Shane O’Neill and Patrick Cronin will be left out of the panel, which manager Kieran Kingston is expected to announce this evening.
It’s also understood that Paudie O’Sullivan, Cian McCarthy and Stephen Moylan have been omitted, as Kingston prepares his side for his first championship campaign in charge since taking over from Jimmy Barry-Murphy.
Cork will go into next month’s game at Semple Stadium on the back of a disappointing Allianz League campaign, but they did manage to avoid relegation from Division 1A by overcoming Galway in Sunday’s play-off. None of the aforementioned quintet featured in the game at Pearse Stadium.
However, it’s believed that O’Sullivan — whose older brother Diarmuid is a selector — has decided to take a hiatus from inter-county hurling, while McCarthy — who returned to the panel this year after opting out in 2015 — has made himself unavailable due to work commitments.
Captain in 2011, O’Neill has been involved since 2005, when he was part of the last Cork panel to win the All-Ireland. The 30-year-old started in Cork’s Allianz League games against Tipperary, Waterford and Galway earlier this season.
Cronin, his 28-year-old Bishopstown team-mate, captained Cork to the Munster title in 2014. Moylan made his Cork debut in 2012 and came off the bench to score 1-1 in the defeat to Clare in the 2013 All-Ireland final replay.
