Injured Browne and Greene in doubt for Mount Sion clash
A decision on whether or not to include them in the starting line-up is unlikely to be taken by manager Jim Greene and his co-selectors until Saturday at the earliest.
Browne, hurler of the year in 1998, is the biggest cause for concern. He picked up a nasty hand injury in the opening minutes of the first round game against Adare which necessitated stitching. However, the wound opened again in the course of a challenge game against Birr ten days ago.
At present he is unable to even hold a hurley and his training has been confined to sprinting and jogging. His chances are rated no better than 50/50.
Greene, son of the manager, Jim, is also struggling with a reoccurrence of a hamstring problem. However, his chances of facing the John Leahy- trained champions are much better than Browne’s.
If one, or both, of these key players are ruled out then Mount Sion’s task against high-flying Mullinahone will be even more difficult.
“We will need to be at full strength to beat what is certain to be a buoyant and very confident opposition,” Jim Greene admitted last night.
If, as everyone in the camp is hoping, both Browne and Greene win their respective fitness battles, the probability is that the Waterford champions will field the same starting 15 that took on Adare in round one.
That would mean the retention of Sean Ryan at full forward where he scored 2-1 against the Limerick champions and won man of the match.
“Sean was a revelation in that game, and a repeat performance next Sunday would do very nicely,” Greene said. “But to win this one we will need to be firing on all cylinders,” he added.
Meanwhile, St Mullins star Pat Coady is expected to be fully fit for next Sunday’s AIB Leinster Club senior hurling semi-final clash with reigning All-Ireland champions, Birr, at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.
Coady has recovered from an ankle injury received during the course of his side’s shock quarter-final victory over Dublin champions, O’Tooles.
Coady gave probably one of his best displays for some time during the course of the dramatic second half of that game and helped electrify the effort of St Mullins to bring about their dramatic victory.
In the North, Ballinderry are sure to go into their semi-final fresher following Sunday’s drawn tie between Crossmaglen and Errigal Ciaran.
However, coach Eamonn Wilkinson believes the replay also puts his side at a disadvantage.
“We don’t know who we’re playing and it doesn’t help us either because we can’t focus on one team,” he says.
“A week or two before the game we’d try and concentrate on the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents. At the minute we can’t do that, so we can’t psyche the players up for it yet,” Wilkinson said.
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