Cadogan close to being in frame for Cork opener
Dual star Cadogan is struggling with an ankle injury picked up on duty with the Cork footballers in the NFL, but McGrath had brighter news of long-term injury victim Paudie O’Sullivan.
“Generally speaking we’re all right,” said McGrath yesterday. “Eoin is a bit of a worry but he is doing some training and he’s doing rehab work with Deccie [O’Sullivan, team physio].
“Is he ready for the Waterford game? Maybe just about, at best, he might make a substitute appearance, but he’s not really on our radar at the moment. He’s just doing rehab at the moment. Well leave it go as late as possible before naming the team, we’ll give him every chance to get fit. He’s doing some light work but we had a game against Dublin at the weekend and he wasn’t available for that.”
Paudie O’Sullivan has put himself into contention for a starting spot, however, after a remarkable return to fitness following a horror injury last year. O’Sullivan (pictured) broke his leg badly playing for Imokilly in last year’s county championship and wasn’t expected to figure for Cork until later in the championship, if at all, but McGrath confirmed his progress has been “ahead of schedule”.
“He continues to put himself in the spotlight,” said McGrath. “We’ve played two practice games, against Wexford and Dublin. He played on both occasions, he scored on both occasions and he’s looked sharp. He’s obviously ahead of schedule — we hadn’t anticipated Paudie coming through until maybe later in the summer, but he’s trained hard, he looks sharp and fit, and he’s putting himself in the spotlight. He’s in contention. His name is in the hat, certainly.”
McGrath added that the Cork hurling management are happy with how the dual player situation has gone so far, with Cadogan, Aidan Walsh and Damien Cahalane dividing their time between the hurlers and footballers on Leeside in 2014.
“We’re happy enough with the way it’s going, to be honest. We had Aidan a good bit in the last couple of weeks, he’s done well in practice games and he did well against Limerick a couple of weeks ago in another game, he got a great goal.
“It’s a pity Eoin is struggling at the moment with an injury, but we’ve had a good look at Aidan and Damien in the last couple of weeks, they’re both shaping up very well and they’re both in contention.
“That’s the best we could have hoped for. If you’d said to us at the start of the year that of the three dual players involved, two would be in contention and injury-free we’d have taken that.
“The more you play the more chance there is of injury, and the lads are out so much between training, practice games and actual league games that to have one out injured isn’t too bad — and at the same time Eoin is still in contention and we’ll give him up to the last minute to get himself right.
“So overall we’re happy with how it’s going.”
