NEMO RANGERS ARE sweating over the fitness of corner-forward Paddy Gumley ahead of the All-Ireland club SFC final against Corofin on St Patrick’s Day.
The 35-year-old injured his calf the week of their semi-final against Slaughtneil and started the game against the Ulster champions, before he was withdrawn after 20 minutes.
Nemo Rangers boss Larry Kavanagh told Cork’s RedFM they’ll give the Cavan native every opportunity to prove his fitness before the decider on Saturday week.
“Paddy Gumley is a more serious injury,” Kavanagh said. “He was injured going into [the Slaughtneil game]. We took a risk on him. We knew it was only going to be 10 or 15 minutes, you’re not going to put on an injured player so we started him.
“He got his (20) minutes but he’s messed up his calf again. We’ll do the same for the final, we’ll go right to the last minute with Paddy. If he declares himself fit we’ll risk him.”
Gumley posted 0-3 in the Munster final victory over Dr Crokes and is a key figure in the Nemo full-forward line alongside Luke Connolly.
“Paddy is on last chance saloon too. He’s like Tomas [Ó Sé], he’s no spring chicken either. It would be a great way for him to finish up, winning an All-Ireland in Croke Park. I hope he makes it but we just have to see.”
Kavanagh had better news regarding goalkeeper Micheál Aodh Martin, who was replaced seven minutes into the second period of extra-time against Slaughtneil due to a groin problem.
“Micheál Aodh will be okay,” he said. “He just overworked the leg. I’d say he took so many kick-outs, we were working on things so he was just kicking hundreds of balls every night and he overdid it. Hopefully that’ll work itself out.
“He’ll be fine, he’s just resting. Even that day it was just getting worse and worse, we possibly should have taken him off that bit earlier, he was complaining [about the groin] but by the same token he didn’t want to come off either. Hopefully he’ll be okay.”
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