John O’Rourke out of Carbery Rangers’ clash with Nire
O’Rourke, who kicked five points from play during the club’s historic first county title win last month, is out of the country this week and so won’t feature against Waterford champions The Nire.
A second member of the Rangers full-forward line, Seamus Hayes, could also be an absent figure at Clonakilty owing to a long-standing hamstring injury.
The 33-year old has been nursing the injury for much of the summer and did not last the full hour in either the county semi-final, final or Munster quarter-final fixtures.
Mick O’Donovan (cruciate) and Declan Hayes (collarbone) are ruled out, with manager Ronan McCarthy confirming the latter will not feature for the remainder of the year should the West Cork outfit progress to the decider.
“We’d been fairly fortunate with injuries throughout the year. This is the first time a couple of injuries have come together, and, on top of that, John O’Rourke is away,” said McCarthy.
“Seamus Hayes is a doubt. He has been managing a hamstring injury since before the county semi-final. He’s played 50 minutes in most of the matches. He played three-quarters of an hour against Monaleen last Sunday week. He was doubtful for a number of them games but came through.
“We’ll give him every chance to prove his fitness for Sunday. There is a big question mark about him.”
McCarthy added: “We have a big pick. We’ve used an awful lot of players throughout the year, something in the region of 25 players played championship this year.
“It will be a test of the strength of the panel. Hopefully, we’ll be able to overcome [these losses].”
Semple Stadium, meanwhile, has been confirmed as the venue for the Munster Club SHC final on Sunday week between Cork’s Glen Rovers and Clare champions Ballyea.
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