Murphy set to miss Kildare showdown

NICHOLAS MURPHY is set to miss Sunday’s All-Ireland football quarter-final clash with Kildare because of a hamstring injury, paving the way for Michael Cussen to start.

There are also serious concerns in the Cork camp over the fitness of Graham Canty and Cork manager Conor Counihan may wait until the very last minute before deciding to risk his captain, who is recovering from a medial ligament strain.

Although Cork named an unchanged team on Tuesday night, it is believed that the team was named only for ‘programme’ purposes, and the starting XV will be revealed to the players when they meet for training tonight.

Coach Conor Counihan is reluctant to rule both players out of Sunday’s clash with the Lilywhites.

“We’ll give both players up to the last minute to prove their fitness but right now it’s touch and go”, said Counihan.

“Our bench may be strong but if both the lads were to miss out, it will be tested to the full. With some much at stake I’m expecting Sunday’s game to be a real dog fight, and Cork will need every player at his very best.”

Meanwhile former Kildare star Séamus ‘Sos’ Dowling has insisted that the Lilywhites have nothing to fear against the Rebels.

Dowling was scathing in his criticism of Kildare following their Leinster championship defeat against Wicklow but he has been impressed by the nature of three successive qualifier victories since which propelled Kieran McGeeney’s charges into the last eight of the championship.

Dowling, a member of Kildare’s 1998 All-Ireland final team, admitted: “If you told me after the Wicklow game that we would reach the All-Ireland quarter-final I would have laughed.

“Kildare are getting there but it’s taken Kieran (McGeeney) six or seven months to get it right. He was trying to play some players in different positions, Earley at full forward for example, but he now has a more settled, balanced team and lads that weren’t fit earlier in the season are a lot fitter now.

“We can’t get carried away either because we’re only building but it’s important that we give a good account of ourselves against Cork - and I think we will.”