Cruciate injury blow for Cork U20 star Conor Corbett

Corbett was in devastating form in the semi-final win over Kerry, scoring 2-4 before going off injured in the provincial decider

Then Cork minor captain Conor Corbett raises the Tom Markham Cup after the Rebels beat Galway in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland MFC final in 2019. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Cork’s All Ireland U20 football prospects have suffered a serious blow with confirmation that star attacker Conor Corbett has suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament injury and is out for the season.

Corbett, from Clyda Rovers, underwent a scan Friday after retiring injured at half-time in Thursday’s Munster U20 final win over Tipperary. He scored two first-half points.

He was in devastating form in the semi-final win over Kerry, scoring 2-4 and leading to calls that he should be elevated to Ronan McCarthy’s senior squad at the earliest opportunity.

Prior to confirmation of Corbett’s injury, former Kerry manager Éamonn Fitzmaurice, writing in Saturday’s Irish Examiner, ‘‘Could someone like Conor Corbett from the U20 team be sprung a la Mark Keane last year? I was hugely impressed with Corbett in the U20 game and he looks ready for senior football, certainly in terms of impacting off the bench’ With an All-Ireland U20 semi against Offaly on the horizon next weekend, the Cork seniors had no intention of taking Corbett from Keith Ricken’s plans in the short term but his promotion to Ronan McCarthys extended squad seemed only a matter of time.