Hurling stars had to sling Singapore

GAA officials have played down the Cork hurlers’ withdrawal from the All-Star trip to Singapore, saying withdrawals have always been a feature of the scheme.

There was surprise in some quarters when it emerged that most of the Cork panel had pulled out of the trip to Asia, but Fergal McGill of Croke Park pointed out yesterday that when the same situation arose two years ago “nobody blinked an eye.”

McGill said it was not surprising that players couldn’t make it to Singapore three days after returning home from holidays in South Africa.

“Cork had their own holiday planned, so we weren’t surprised when some players couldn’t make it. There’s a very small window there for intercounty players to get away on holiday - they have the intercounty season itself and then club games, and a lot of lads would have been out of the country already on inter provincial trips as well. After that there’s not much time in which they can take a holiday.

“It’s unfortunate, we’d love it if the Cork hurlers could make it to Singapore, but people should remember that the same thing happened with the All-Star trip to Phoenix two years ago. Cork were in Vietnam at the time, on their team holiday, and couldn’t make it. Nobody blinked an eye then; everybody just said it was unfortunate.

“That’s just a feature of dealing with amateur sportsmen who have jobs and commitments beyond the games. When you pick a time, it’ll always suit some people but not others, and that’s been true of All-Star trips going back to when they started back in the seventies.”

Westmeath manager Tomas O’Flatharta, meanwhile, will have no option but to field an experimental side for his first competitive game in charge against Carlow in the O’Byrne Cup this Sunday. Though January is a natural breeding ground for potential recruits, half a dozen key players are unavailable - most of them fighting to be fit for the National League.

The biggest loss will be star forward Dessie Dolan, who is serving a controversial 12-week ban.

Influential full-back Damien Healy is currently in Australia on a five-week sabbatical but is expected back in Ireland before the NFL opens its doors.

It is on the injury front where Westmeath find most of their concerns. Forwards Gary Dolan (torn hamstring), David Glennon (leg), Paddy Mulvihill and defender Donal O’Donoghue (both groin operations) are all weeks away from attaining full fitness.

Worst of all is the news that the 2003 Leinster-winning captain, David O’Shaughnessy’s persistent Achilles injury shows no sign of improvement.

The Garrycastle man has been unable to train outdoors for weeks and is a doubtful starter for the opening league fixture next month.

“We are missing one or two players but we will still have six or seven of the 2003 Leinster-winning side lining out against Carlow,” said selector Paddy Collins yesterday.

“The O’Byrne Cup isn’t the be all or end all of any team’s season but you’d certainly want a good few experienced players on your side going to play a side like Carlow.”

With O’Shaughnessy’s midfield partner Rory O’Connell, Fergal Wilson and Paul Conway all announcing their retirement since last year, O’Flatharta has considerable surgery to perform on a team looking to prove that 2003 was no one-off occurrence.

The Leinster Council has added a shield section to the O’Byrne Cup this year, guaranteeing every side at least two fixtures and the flip side to O’Flatharta’s worries is that a path has now been cleared for a number of players to stake their own claims to a starting spot over the coming weeks.

With O’Connell and O’Shaughnessy out of the equation, 23-year old hurler Brendan Murtagh and Niall Kilmartin, a Leinster minor winner in 2000, will be eager to make the right impression.

Two players widely tipped to be in the shake-up for places come summer are 20-year-old full-back Brendan Nannery, who will start on Sunday, and PJ Ward, full-forward on the provincial-winning minor side of five years back.

Kevin Fitzpatrick - who captained Laois to the Leinster final last year - may yet be in line to return for the county’s opening league game against Wexford on February 4th.

The Portlaoise player has not been able to train with Mick O’Dwyer’s side so far due to a long-standing Gilmore groin injury.

Fitzpatrick postponed an operation on the injury, last spring, to captain his county and has now been told by medical specialists that surgery should not be required.