Counihan deprived of CIT players

CONOR COUNIHAN will have to plan with a depleted squad for Cork’s warm weather training camp in Portugal next week due to a clash with the Sigerson Cup finals.

Cork IT’s extra-time win over DCU in Wednesday’s quarter-final means the quartet of Daniel Goulding, Paul Kerrigan, Paul O’Flynn and Ray Carey will not be flying out with the Cork squad. Instead they will be preparing for their semi-final clash with NUI Galway next Friday in CIT. Despite their unavailability, Counihan believes it is positive that CIT have progressed.

“On a personal level I’m delighted to see the lads advancing with CIT in the Sigerson. It’s a great competition and we’d be hoping they’ll go on now and be successful. But the downside for us is that we won’t have them for the work that we’ll be doing in Portugal. I suppose the good thing is that they’re still going to be playing football at a very high level which is important for their fitness and form.”