Goulding out until March after ankle op

CORK attacker Daniel Goulding will miss the opening rounds of next year’s Allianz Football League after undergoing surgery on his right ankle last week that will put him out of action for three months.

Goulding suffered the injury in last July’s All-Ireland qualifier victory over Down in Croke Park and did not feature in their quarter-final defeat to Mayo a week later. Despite undergoing a rigorous rehabilitation programme supervised by Cork physiotherapist Colin Lane and subsequently returning to action with his club Éire Óg, a recent scan revealed the problem had not been rectified. He opted to undergo the corrective procedure nine days ago in the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry in Dublin.

“The ankle was still niggling me so I went for a scan a few weeks ago to see how it was,” revealed Goulding.

“When the results came back they saw that there was still damage to the tendon in the ankle. So I had to get the operation to get it sorted. If you put it off, there’s a chance it’d start giving trouble in the middle of the season and you’d miss games.

“It needed to be done and you’re better off getting an operation at this time of year when it’s quiet. I’ll miss the start of the league but all going well I’ll be back soon enough.”

Goulding is likely to target a return for either the long trip to Donegal on March 4 or the home tie against Laois six days later.

Meanwhile the Cork senior footballers are hosting a Kick Fada fundraiser tomorrow at the Clonakilty GAA complex at 2.30pm in order to assist their training fund. Entry is €10 per adult and €5 for minor and juvenile players.