Cork hope Cadogan will win fitness fight

Cork are hopeful Eoin Cadogan will be fit for their Munster SFC quarter-final with Limerick on May 25.

Cadogan has been out of action since suffering an ankle injury in March, which ruled him out of the Rebels’ final two Allianz Football League Division 1 games against Kerry and Mayo, but selector Ronan McCarthy is optimistic he will be available come the championship.

“There’s still a question-mark about Eoin,” McCarthy said, “it’s a bit like Pa Kelly’s situation, it takes a while but things are progressing well.

“If his recovery programme goes to plan, he should be okay, hopefully we should have enough weeks between now and then.”

Cadogan is definitely out of Douglas’s county SFC opener against Ballincollig on Monday night, a game which Kelly will feature in as he makes his way back to full fitness following the hip problem which kept him out for the entire league campaign.

Ciarán Sheehan is also likely to play for club Éire Óg as they begin the intermediate championship challenge against Canovee on Sunday night. Ray Carey, who had been away travelling, is due to return home in the coming weeks, while goalkeeper Alan Quirke will be back from army duty in Lebanon later this month.

While not commenting on individuals, McCarthy admits there are likely to be changes between the squad for the championship and that which took part in the league.

“We’ll definitely be making a few calls,” he said, “we’re waiting until after the All-Ireland U21 final at the weekend before finalising things.

“In a sense, though, the panel is always under review, nobody is guaranteed his place and by the same token, nobody is ever definitely ruled out either.”