Red Hand star O’Neill set for Ulster decider despite foot injury worry

TYRONE attacker Stephen O’Neill is in no danger of missing the Ulster final on July 18, despite limping off with a foot injury after just 11 minutes of last Saturday’s semi-final against Down.

It has emerged that the damage is no worse than bruising to his heel, sustained after he came down heavily on the firm Casement Park surface after contesting possession.

“He should be okay towards the end of the week, and he’s hoping to play for his club at the weekend,” said assistant manager Tony Donnelly.

“He went out for a ball and stopped, using that foot as the anchor. It was a mixture of the hard ground and the way he stamped into the ground that caused the injury. He couldn’t put any weight on it afterwards and obviously had to come off. But it’s good news that it isn’t anything worse than that.”

O’Neill is expected to feature for his club Clan na nGael in an Intermediate Championship tie against Kevin Hughes’s Killeeshil next Saturday and it will be an anxious weekend for manager Mickey Harte, who will be hoping to avoid further injuries during a weekend of championship action.

Meanwhile, senior player Andrew Shore has been dropped from the Wexford squad for tomorrow evening’s Bord Gáis Energy Leinster U21HC semi-final against Carlow in Wexford Park at 7.30pm. Manager Tony Dempsey revealed yesterday that Shore has been dropped for disciplinary reasons but would not elaborate further.

Shore was centre-back last season when Wexford exited the U21 provincial championship against Dublin by a massive nineteen-point margin, but the Model County will now have to plan for the game with the senior panellist. Midfielder Harry Kehoe, who lined out for Colm Bonnar’s senior side in the recent provincial championship defeat against Galway, and full-forward James Gahan are the key senior figures in the side against a Carlow side that will be boosted by a quarter-final success over Laois a fortnight ago.

The other U21 semi-final clash in Leinster tomorrow evening is a repeat of last season’s decider between Kilkenny and Dublin, with the teams meeting in Nowlan Park at 7.30pm. Dublin were victorious with this side at minor level in 2007 and manager Richard Stakelum, who is also a selector with senior boss Anthony Daly, will name his side tonight for the game. Senior stars Liam Rushe and Oisín Gough, who both featured in Sunday’s Leinster SHC semi-final defeat against Kilkenny, will be available for selection but attacker David Treacy is a doubt with a hamstring injury. Kilkenny boss Michael Walsh will name his team tonight but is likely to stick with the same side that walloped Offaly in the last eight by 2-31 to 0-8.

WEXFORD (U21H v Carlow): M Fanning; B McCormack, P Donnelly, E Doyle; S Murphy, Matthew O’Hanlon, Michael O’Hanlon; E Moore, H Kehoe; P Morris, J Leacy, E Kent; J Reck, J Gahan, L Óg McGovern.