Counihan at a loss to explain Cork’s cruciate curse

CONOR COUNIHAN admits he can’t comprehend the spate of cruciate injuries that have hit his Cork panel.

David Goold this week became the third forward after Ciarán Sheehan and Colm O’Neill to be struck down with the knee problem in the past 10 months.

The young Macroom man is now sidelined for the rest of the season and will undergo surgery in the coming weeks.

Counihan is understandably disappointed to lose such a promising player for 2012, but like everyone, is in the dark about exactly why so many inter-county Gaelic footballers are picking up the injury.

“You find me the fella with an answer to that and I’d be a happy fella,” said Counihan.

“They’re telling us about what type of studs should be used and the ground and that sort of thing as well as the bodies are being developed in all shapes and sizes.

“It seems to be more prevalent in the GAA than in other sports. Of course, we try and find out why it’s happening.

“It’s no different to any other situation: you evaluate it and you study it. But you’re inclined to say we are having a bit of bad luck.

“It seems to be an ongoing thing for us with Ciarán’s one and Colm’s one and you wonder how many times it’s going to happen to us. You just have to say there’s a fair bit of misfortune.”

However, Counihan is particularly pleased with how O’Neill and Sheehan are recuperating following their operations last year.

O’Neill could be in a line for some action in this month’s McGrath Cup while Sheehan, who only had surgery in September, could see game time towards the end of the Allianz League.

Counihan believes their recoveries will provide Goold with inspiration to come back better than ever.

“You have to take the positives from this. People do make comebacks and return stronger and better. We’ve seen this injury before in the panel and we’re delighted with how the boys have recovered from their injuries.

“The reality of it is David will need six months to get back but he will be back, there is no doubt about it.”

Meanwhile, Kerry’s National League preparations have received a big boost after Aidan O’Mahony’s earlier than anticipated return to training.

The Rathmore man had been a major doubt for Kerry’s opening league fixture away to Dublin on February 4, following an operation on a broken finger early last month as well as suffering a broken bone in his left leg during a Kerry club championship final in October.

But O’Mahony has made rapid progress, featuring in Kerry’s training session on Monday and could also make a shock return to action for Rathmore in an East Kerry SFC semi-final replay against Currow this weekend, which would include him in the shake-up for the All-Ireland final rematch early next month.

Another timely fillip for the Kingdom is the return of midfielder David Moran to the set-up following the cruciate knee ligament he suffered against Monaghan in the league last April. While the Kerins O’Rahillys club-man is not taking part in full training yet, he could feature at some stage in Kerry’s league campaign.

Before Moran suffered his season-ending knee injury last year, he had really caught the eye in the Kerry midfield, delivering on his promise, and his return this season is seen as a major plus for the Munster champions.

While the likes of Kieran Donaghy, Kieran O’Leary and Killian Young missed Monday’s training due to holidays, former Footballer of the Year Paul Galvin was present as he looks to get a good pre-season under his belt after last year’s injury-blighted campaign.

Also, experienced backs Tom O’Sullivan and Tommy Griffin have not returned to training just yet but Milltown/Castlemaine full-forward Colm Kerins and Dingle ace Paul Geaney have both been called into the training panel. Kerins has impressed for both Mid Kerry in last year’s Kerry championship and for Milltown/Castlemaine in their victorious Munster intermediate campaign, while Geaney was one of UCC’s star performers in their run to the Munster senior club final last month.

With Kerry not defending their McGrath Cup title this year, having decided to pull out of the annual provincial tournament, Kerry selector Ger O’Keeffe outlined the plan for January: “We are training for the month. We would be hoping that over the next week or two that all the players will be back in training.”