Luke Connolly latest star to depart Cork football setup

Keith Ricken confirmed the Nemo Rangers star is not in with the county at present, but that the door remains open for a return

Cork's Luke Connolly and Tom O’Sullivan of Kerry during the McGrath Cup final. Was that Connolly's last appearance for Cork? Picture: INPHO/Bryan Keane

Nemo Rangers sharpshooter Luke Connolly is no longer part of the Cork senior football panel.

Following Cork’s opening round League defeat to Roscommon, Ricken confirmed that Connolly is not in with the county at present, but that the door remains open for a return to the Cork set-up if he can get his body right.

Introduced as a half-time sub in the recent McGrath Cup final, it remains to be seen if that Killarney appearance was the 29-year-old’s last in a Cork shirt.

Kevin Crowley, who also came on against Kerry in the McGrath Cup decider, is another who is no longer part of the Cork panel. He and Connolly join a growing list of players who featured in last summer’s Munster final defeat to Kerry but are not now in with Cork. It emerged last week that Ruairí Deane, Michael Hurley, and the White brothers, Mark and Séan, will not be involved with Cork in 2022, while Mark Collins has yet to make a call on whether he will commit for the season.

When asked about Connolly and Crowley at Dr Hyde Park, Ricken replied: “We have to reduce our panel at the moment. Luke has given huge service to Cork over the last couple of years, but he is struggling with kinda getting his body back fully, as is Kevin. They are breaking down and stuff. We want to give them time to go away and recover.

“It is very, very difficult for men who give their lives to Gaelic football that have an injury and then the injuries keep catching them and they know they can go better than they are going. That really affects them and affects their mental and physical well-being. Sometimes, it is good to give fellas time.

“[Luke and Kevin] are not yesterday's men, they have given great service to Cork football. They are not at the level they require at the moment with their injuries, but I've no doubt a lot of these fellas will try and put up their hand again, and that's great.”

Reflecting on a tough day at the office, Ricken expressed disappointment with Cork’s poor execution of the basics.

“You are always disappointed after losing any game. What we are more disappointed with is that we are better than that. The basic stuff we did today, the passes, the kicks, they weren't up to the standard the players are capable of and what we'd be expecting from them. That's the disappointing part of it.

“I don't mind the naivety. We were a bit naive at times, we were certainly naive after the first 15 minutes of the first half where we were pushing up and leaving loads of space behind us. You can expect that at times when they are a young team. And it was good to see them trying to figure that out and they did settle that down and got three good scores before half-time.

“But at the start of the second half again, we lost our shape. We were taking potshots. We are better than that and we expect better than that. Roscommon packed their defence and we were panicking a bit trying to make inroads. But you gotta be more patient and we can't be taking shots for the sake of it.”