Conor Dorman misses Cork’s league campaign

Cork footballer Conor Dorman will miss the county’s entire Allianz league Division 1 campaign after undergoing surgery on his ankle yesterday.

Dorman went under the knife in Dublin to correct a persistent ankle injury and with the recovery period set at 12 weeks, the 22-year old will not feature for Peadar Healy’s charges this spring.

The wing-back, who captained Cork to Munster U-21 glory in 2014 and made his senior championship debut last summer, will also miss UCC’s entire Sigerson Cup campaign which commences this afternoon with a home fixture against GMIT at the Mardyke.

Mark Collins, meanwhile, was adamant that no Cork footballer would be “losing the run of themselves” after the comfortable nine point dismissal of Mayo.

History has been too unkind to the Rebels to allow delusions of grandeur develop in early February.

“We have had wins in the league in the last couple of years and haven’t kicked on from there,” said the half-forward. “So it is only a start and we are not going to lose the run of ourselves.” A decent start all the same.

“Danny (Goulding) and Brian (Hurley) were in prolific form up front and once we got ahead we seemed to push on and never looked back really.

“We went in at half-time (12 to 0-4 in front) and we knew we’d be in for a right battle again in the second-half. The lads asked us inside to win that second-half and thankfully, we won that second-half by a point (1-6 to 0-8) which was a great performance against that wind. Hopefully, we can build from here now. Since the management have come in in early November, it has been very fresh and very positive.

“We haven’t got a whole pile of work done on the pitch, because of conditions, but anything we have done, it has been good. With new management, every player has a point to prove.”

Clearly so, such was the high volume of players determined to make an impact at Páirc Uí Rinn. Their collective effort had Mayo 1-18 to 0-7 adrift by the 56th minute and with a long trip north to Ballyshannon next Sunday, Collins stressed the importance of taking full points from their home fixtures.

“Over the last couple of years, we had a lot of away games and while they are great bonding exercises, they are tough tests and if we are to get two points out of Ballyshannon next week, it will be some achievement.

“Through the McGrath Cup and today, the lads let us go out and play and it was very enjoyable on Sunday, but next week against Donegal; conditions will terrible, it will be a totally different game, a lot tighter at the back.” On the appointment of Paul Kerrigan as captain, he added: “I’m delighted with the choice. He has been around a long time and lots of fellas look up to him. It shows what character the man has - man of the match on his first day of captain. A great sign.”

Short-term injury concern Colm O’Neill, who despite being named among the substitutes on Sunday displayed a heavily strapped right foot, said he is “100%” and rearing to go.

Surrounded by groups of young children outside the Cork dressing room seeking the Ballyclough’s man autograph, O’Neill was quick to offer a touch of reality.

“There weren’t too many looking for autographs after the Kildare game,” he quipped.

“It is an ideal start, but if we drop our own performance up in Donegal next week, it will be a waste.”

Manager Healy has earmarked that fixture as a game where he’d like to ease O’Neill back into the fold, but the Cork forward accepts it will be difficult to work his way back into the starting team such was the performance of the forward unit against the westerners.