Newtown and Sars sweating on stars' fitness

IT'S hold-your-breath time in Newtownshandrum and Thurles Sarsfields for the next few days as both clubs sweat over the fitness of a couple of their top performers.

In Newtownshandrum, it's Jerry O'Connor and Donal Mulcahy; in Thurles, team captain Gerry "Redser" O'Grady is a major concern, along with full-forward Pat Lawlor, and corner-backs Brendan O'Sullivan and Tom King.

"We're waiting for the medics to call whether or not Redser will make it," said Sars manager/coach Ger Cunningham. "They'll be assessing him again tomorrow. About 10 minutes to go in the Lixnaw game (semi-final win last Sunday week), he tried to catch a ball, it deflected, hit him in the eye.

"He was rushed to the Regional in Limerick, kept in until last Friday. Luckily there doesn't seem to have been any permanent damage, but he still has blood in the eye, which is a concern, obviously, and he's still on medication to try and clear that up.

"If it was up to himself, he'd play, without question, but in this instance, because of the seriousness of the situation, we'll have to refer to the medical people, the consultant and our own team doctor. They'll call it.

"Pat Lawlor, who had a broken hand going into the Lixnaw game, will be strapped up for a training session tomorrow night, and hopefully he'll get through that. If he does, we'll call it, but he has improved immensely in the last couple of weeks.

"Brendan O'Sullivan and Tom King missed the Lixnaw game altogether, knee cartilage and calf, respectively, but they've been under intense treatment - laser, you name it - to try and get them ready. That's it, those are the four, the rest are fighting fit."

As big a loss as Redser, an inspirational captain thus far, would be to Thurles, the loss of O'Connor would be incalculable to Newtown. Current Allstar midfielder, a certainty to pick up another this year, one of two players in line for player-of-the-year, Jerry is even more pivotal to Newtownshandrum than to Cork.

However, according to Newtown captain Brendan Mulcahy, the news from North Cork isn't good. "Jerry has had the flu for the last two weeks, hasn't been able to train, and Donal (Mulcahy, Brendan's brother) has tonsillitis, so he's also in trouble. Both of them are determined to be ready, but we're only hoping they'll be 100%. Jerry is never sick, but he's been badly hit by this for two weeks."

So badly, in fact, that he passed up a trip to Boston to play in the Martin Donnelly Interprovincial Championship.

"He'll probably play," added Brendan. "That's how committed he is to Newtown; there's no point pretending he won't be affected, but we can only hope he'll be as effective as he normally is."