Déise skipper Flynn rated doubtful for Tipp clash

WATERFORD skipper Paul Flynn remains a doubt for Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Tipperary in Croke Park.

The Ballygunner club man is troubled by a thigh muscle problem which will require surgery when Waterford’s championship is over. He is rated less than a 50/50 chance of making the starting line-up.

His only competitive hurling in the qualifiers came in the closing quarter of the top-of-the-table clash with Galway at Walsh Park, where he scored a goal minutes after his arrival.

There’s better news surrounding the team’s other injured stars, defenders Tom Feeney and Eoin Murphy.

Feeney missed the game against Laois due to a shoulder injury sustained against Galway, while Murphy was forced out of the Laois game after 20 minutes following a collision with an opponent. Both have recovered and are expected to be named in the starting 15.

Despite an eight-point loss to Tipp in the Munster championship, confidence is high in Waterford.

“We were crippled by injury that day, and yet had we translated even half the many chances we created for ourselves it would have been much closer at the finish,” county secretary Seamas Grant said. “This one will go right down to the wire, but we know we are well capable of beating them.”