LAST UPDATE | 9 May 2022
CORK DEFENDER KEVIN Flahive will miss the rest of the season after tearing his cruciate in Saturday’s Munster football semi-final against Kerry.
Flahive was was forced off towards the end of the game after hurting his knee and a scan this evening has confirmed the extent of the injury setback.
The loss of the Douglas player is a blow as he has emerged as one of their most experienced defensive options and was detailed to watch Kerry danger man David Clifford on Saturday evening.
Goalkeeper Mícheál Aodh Martin was also forced off in the game in Páirc Uí Rinn due to a groin injury.
Those injuries are the latest selection headache for interim manager John Cleary in the goalkeeper and defensive sectors.
Thank you all for the texts and calls over the last few days.
— Kevin Flahive (@FlahiveKevin) May 9, 2022
Unfortunately sport can be cruel and that’s the end of my year.
Looking forward to getting over the surgery in the next few weeks and getting back to representing my Family, club and county next year ❤️ pic.twitter.com/cHy7LMhNFq
Flahive has been a consistent figure in the Cork full-back line this year, starting six of their league games and coming on as a substitute in the other game against Derry.
It is an area of the pitch where Cork have been forced into regular change. They started eight different players in that line during the league – Tadhg Corkery, Flahive, Sean Powter, Kevin O’Donovan, Sean Meehan, Billy Hennessy, Kieran Histon and Tommy Walsh – with three more (Kevin Crowley, Paul Ring and Paudie Allen) all starting in McGrath Cup games. That trio were not part of Saturday’s squad.
Of that group of starters Cork have lost joint captain Sean Meehan to a season-ending hamstring injury, Billy Hennessy has opted out of the panel, while Histon, Corkery and Powter all got injured during the spring, the latter duo only returning to competitive action on Saturday.
The substitution of Martin saw youngster Dylan Foley come in to make his senior competitive debut for Cork. His presence in goal was unusual as he is an outfield player for his club Éire Óg, scoring three goals at club senior championship level last year from his corner-forward berth.
His goalkeeping experience amounts to roles for UCC Fresher and Sigerson Cup teams in recent campaigns, the latter role for two games this January. In a difficult situation as he played his first adult championship game at any level in goal, Foley performed credibly and produced a fine save late on to deny David Clifford from finding the net as Cork finished the game with a clean sheet.
It was the second successive year that Cork lost Martin due to injury against Kerry, Mark White coming on to play between the posts in last summer’s Munster final.
White has not been involved in the Cork squad for 2022, with Chris Kelly, a club-mate of Foley’s, the established number two goalkeeper as he played against Derry and Galway in the league.
Kelly suffered a quad injury in the latter game, while Cork also this season started Joe Creedon in goal during the McGrath Cup and last year’s U20 netminder Gavin Creedon was on the bench for the league tie with Meath in March.
“In fairness Chris Kelly our sub goalie got injured a few weeks ago as well,” said John Cleary after Saturday’s game.
“Dylan, in fairness, was thrown in at the deep end completely. No goal went by him, when Kerry pushed up on the kickout it made it very hard for us. Kevin Flahive, who I thought had a heroic game on David Clifford, got injured at the end and it looks like a serious injury. It seems to impact this squad more than most, it’s just unlucky we are going home now with two bad injuries.”
Cork will be next in action on the weekend of 4-5 June in Round 1 of the All-Ireland football qualifiers.
