O’Grady fit for Kilkenny showdown
A calf injury kept O’Grady, pictured, out of the quarter-final win against Wexford, the 24-year old undergoing a series of cryotherapy sessions this week in order to fast-track his recovery.
“We’re training tonight and Donal will be training. He will be fit,” admitted Ryan. “We will have a clean bill of health for the game, including Conor Allis.”
Ryan , though not involved in the 2013 set-up, believes the hype which gripped the county leading into last year’s All-Ireland semi-final against Clare got out of hand. The same mistakes won’t be made this time around, he added.
“Two things that probably are in our favour this year – first of all we’re not Munster champions and secondly the length of time. From my point of view, even on nights like tonight, it’s a fine balance. Trying to keep the media happy but at the same time we don’t have players wholly available either.”
Reflecting on 2013, he added: “We hadn’t won a title in a long time, it would be a natural thing [the hype]. The probable answer is to some degree the hype did get out of hand.
“It’s definitely not at that level [this year]. I think its natural enough for things like this to happen when the team is playing well and you get to an All-Ireland semi-final.
“From the player’s point of view, they just want to go and hurl, maybe keep it as tight…they’ve done it really well all year and they want to try and keep that vein going.”
Meanwhile, Clare’s Shane O’Donnell looks set to miss the county’s three-in-a-row All-Ireland U21 bid, having fractured his hand during Wednesday’s Munster final win over Cork.
“Three months with hamstring, first game back and my hand is fractured. I won’t be hurling by 25 if I keep shipping these hits,” O’Donnell tweeted after game.
Clare will meet Antrim in the All-Ireland semi-final on August 23.
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