O’Neill set for Cork return

CORK attacker Colm O’Neill is poised to make his inter-county comeback during next month’s McGrath Cup competition after being sidelined since March with a torn cruciate ligament.

O’Neill suffered the injury for the second time in four years during a National League tie against Galway at Pearse Stadium and missed the remainder of Cork’s league and championship campaign.

But the 2009 All-Ireland U21 winning captain has recovered and will be in the frame when Cork make their 2012 debut with a quarter-final against Clare or UL on Sunday January 15.

“It’s great that Colm is back in our plans but I’m not surprised that his comeback has gone well,” confirmed Cork selector Ger O’Sullivan. “He’s always been a guy who works very hard when it comes to football and that was shown again after his operation. When I was driving to work over the past number of months, I would regularly see him heading to the gym in Mallow to do a session at 8am. He’s a really focused individual.”

Cork have fielded experimental sides in the McGrath Cup in recent years and manager Conor Counihan is set to maintain that trend next month. Third-level commitments will rule a number of players out of the equation as they will be featuring for their colleges who are finalising Sigerson Cup preparations. Mark Collins, Barry O’Driscoll, Jamie O’Sullivan, Eoin O’Mahony and Paul Honohan will all be involved with UCC while defender Denis O’Sullivan will line out for UL. Long-term injuries will mean that Daniel Goulding (ankle) and Ciarán Sheehan (cruciate) will not figure, with Goulding aiming for a March comeback and Sheehan targeting an early April return.

Defensive pair John Miskella and Anthony Lynch are the other definite absentees from this year’s panel following their recent retirements. Midfielder Aidan Walsh, who is eligible to play for CIT, is heading to Australia for an extended holiday at the end of December but will return in late January and will be available for Cork’s opening league assignment away to Armagh on February 5 in the Athletic Grounds.

It is expected that Cork will offer game time to several newcomers during their involvement in the competition. From this year’s All-Ireland winning junior football team defender Kevin Harrington and attacker Liam Shorten are in line for call-ups. Bantry Blues player Harrington, who won an All-Ireland U21 medal with Cork in 2007, lined out for the county during their 2009 McGrath Cup triumph while Ballingeary’s Shorten was a Cork U21 footballer in 2008 and also has past Sigerson Cup experience with UCC.

The exploits of the Cork U21 team who claimed Munster honours last April has been recognised with St Mary’s defender Peter Daly, who will be involved with CIT in the McGrath Cup in January, and Naomh Abán midfielder Micheál O Laoire drafted into the senior set-up. The club form of 2007 All-Ireland U21 winner Seanie Cahalane, who played in attack on the Castlehaven side that reached this year’s county senior final, and Aidan O’Reilly, a Munster senior club winner in defence with Nemo Rangers last January, is likely to see them involved.

“We’ve experimented to a certain extent over the past few years in the McGrath Cup and it has helped us a lot,” remarks O’Sullivan. “We’ve been reasonably successful in the competition and it has served us very well in our preparation for the National League. It’s a worthwhile competition that we’ve always had a lot time for as it’s run quickly over a few weeks. We’ll be giving run outs to some new players as long as we’re involved. As regards the rest of the year, we’ll be leaving the U21 squad concentrate with John Cleary on their Munster championship and keeping an eye on how certain guys are doing in that panel.”