Dingle hopeful Mark O’Connor will be available for Munster final showdown with the Barrs

"Please God, and I know that Geelong are back training on the first of December, but hopefully we’ll have Mark for the next day,” said manager Padraig Corcoran.

STICKING AROUND?: Mark O'Connor during the AIB Munster GAA Football Senior Club Championship semi-final match between Dingle and Mungret St. Pauls. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.

Dingle manager Padraig Corcoran hasn’t given up hope that midfield talisman Mark O’Connor will be available for the Munster club SFC Final against St Finbarr’s, which will take place in a fortnight, on Sunday, December 7.

O’Connor has been lining out with his home club during the AFL’s off-season, playing in the West Kerry side’s county championship semi-final and final victories over Mid Kerry and Austin Stacks respectively, and again in Sunday’s clash with Mungret St Paul’s.

As Corcoran reflected on the 19-point destruction of the depleted Limerick champions in the provincial semi-final and, in the continued absence of Barry Dan O’Sullivan through a cruciate knee ligament injury, O’Connor’s presence, or otherwise, could be pivotal in two weeks.

“Mark has given a fierce commitment and sacrifice to play with us, and we’re just delighted to have him on board. Please God, and I know that Geelong are back training on the first of December, but hopefully we’ll have Mark for the next day,” he said.

“We’ll get ready for whoever the opposition is, and we’ll prepare well. We’ll be looking forward to it. Barry O’Sullivan has been a massive, massive loss for us, and it’s very disappointing for Barry to be missing out.

“That’s also the case for James Hoare and Conor O’Sullivan, two big losses for us as well. Conor did a bit of the warm-up there, but he has another bit to go yet,” added the Dingle boss, after an afternoon where captain Paul Geaney showed no ill-effects from his recent hamstring injury.

The Dingle skipper kicked three points from play, but it was his cousins Conor (2-2) and Niall (0-4), who stood out in the scoring stakes.

“Niall did very well, and he’s been performing very well for us in the championship. He’s done really well, he’s a big player, and he showed it again today.

“There are always things to work on. We would have been disappointed there with some of the stuff in the first half, but it does give us something to work on. There’s plenty to work on for the next day,” stressed Corcoran.

For Mungret St Paul’s, the absence of regulars Jason Hassett, Darragh O’Hagan, Frank Corcoran, James Garvey, Brendan Giltenane and Diarmaid Hynes, plus the half-time withdrawal of Shane Barry, scuppered their prospects of being competitive.

“The fellas that were injured would be our hard runners, who would hopefully break open a line of the defence.

"Those fellas are usually the ones who unpick the lock, they create that bit of confusion in the opposition defence. We just didn’t have them there today,” admitted manager Kevin O’Hagan.