CORK HAVE INJURY worries to contend with ahead of their Munster semi-final with defender Sam Ryan ruled out for the rest of the season while Sean Powter is a major doubt for the game.
Limerickโs win over Tipperary last Saturday means they will provide the opposition to Cork at the senior semi-final stage on 1 June in Pรกirc Uรญ Rinn.
Ryan, who started last summerโs Munster final against Kerry, tore a hamstring tendon in a recent challenge game against Laois. He suffered an impact injury when contesting a ball and will now undergo surgery.
A county senior football winner in Cork with St Finbarrโs last season, Ryan will watch on for the rest of the campaign with his Grade 4 tear injury similar to the severe one that has struck down attacker Brian Hurley twice in recent years.
Powterโs injury is not as serious but he is in a race against time to be fit for the Limerick match and needs further specialist opinion before the extent of the problem is fully known later this week.
The 2017 Young Footballer of the Year nominee has damaged his hamstring but it is not the same one that he injured in a league game against Tipperary in January 2018 which subsequently ruled him out for over a year.
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Training all winter on the 4G has a lot to do with this.
The bodyโs muscle memory canโt be overwritten quickly enough when you spend 4 months training on an artificial surface and then jump into competitive matches on grass.
No surprise that the hurlers have avoided the 4G at all costs. Theyโd better be careful though, lose to Limerick on Sunday and they might be put on it as punishment
@Ray Mohally: fellas seem to be picking up a pile of very serious hamstring injuries these days
Sam Ryan is a big loss. Powter not so much as he is well off his best. Was taken off in club championship.