Hurling semi selection dilemmas: Cork have corner question but Clare have most posers to solve
SELECTION DILEMMA: Cork's Alan Walsh reacts during the quarter-final against Offaly. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom O'Hanlon.
No camp is without selection dilemmas ahead of the weekend’s hurling semi-finals.
Injury is a prevalent theme around many of those decisions. There are the first-team regulars returning from sideline stints who have to be embedded back into the line-up. And then there are those potentially moving in the other direction who will have to be replaced.
In at least two camps, calls have to be made that bear no relation to injury. Form, the opposition, and one’s suitability to Croke Park will be deciding factors there.
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Outside of cruciate victim Ciarán Joyce, Cork have everyone available. Their A&E department has finally thinned.
The favoured midfield partnership of Tim O’Mahony (dead leg) and Tommy O’Connell (broken thumb) missed the quarter-final annihilation of Offaly. The expectation is that this pair will start against Galway, with their quarter-final replacements, Brian Roche and Hugh O’Connor, dropping back to the bench.
If that is the case, it will be a first Croke Park start for O’Connell. He was used off the bench in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final and final, as well as the 2024 decider.
All of the above, allied with Darragh Fitzgibbon having resumed his starting spot two weeks ago, means there will again be no place for young Barry Walsh.
Where suspense arises is who takes the No.15 shirt. This had been William Buckley’s corner for the entirety of the Munster campaign, only for management to then hand Alan Walsh his full championship debut, at Buckley’s expense, last day out against Offaly.
Walsh’s pair of first quarter goals put on full view his aerial prowess, and given the extent to which Galway struggled at Salthill when confronted with the twin peaks Ronan Hayes and John Hetherton, Ben O’Connor could be tempted to again partner Walsh and Hayes close to goal on Saturday.
Irish Examiner columnist Seánie McGrath, writing in these pages after the Offaly win, predicted a return for Buckley.
“My take would be that William has done enough over the course of the Championship to earn his place back.”
Given how he came through the Leinster final, and the four weeks he has had since to mend the knee, it is impossible to see a situation where Daithí Burke does not start. He’s simply too important to Galway’s defensive set-up. The Brian Hayes brief has his name written in capital letters all over it.
The other injury concern up west is Rory Burke, who departed the Leinster final after only 14 minutes. Given the 4-7 he shot in the three Leinster games he started and went unaffected by his hamstring, his absence would constitute a significant loss.
With a reluctance not to remove Conor Cooney as a second-half reserve option, any Burke absence could be dealt with by bringing Gavin Lee in at half-back. The line-by-line repercussions would be minimal given how outside of Jason Rabbitte, Galway’s forwards tend to operate from withdrawn starts in the opposition half.
Lee’s inclusion would also further strengthen their half-back platform for the seismic challenge of trying to curtail the in-form Diarmuid Healy and Shane Barrett, not to mind Darragh Fitzgibbon.
Indeed, it could well be that even if Burke is fit to start, and does so, the Clarinbridge clubman still succeeds in making the cut. The casualty in that instance would be a middle-third operator, maybe Tiernan Killeen or Cian Daniels.
John Kiely confirmed two weeks ago that the injury which took Cathal O’Neill out of the Munster final was a hamstring one. No more than Galway’s Burke, O’Neill does have hamstring priors and so wariness over this latest reoccurrence could see him start Sunday’s fixture in the cushioned seats of the Hogan Stand.
It was Tom Morrissey who replaced O’Neill midway through the Munster decider, a like-for-like half-forward switch. But that’s unlikely to be the personnel swap if this change comes before throw-in rather than after.
A more probable outcome would be Adam English coming in at midfield for his first start since May 24 and Cian Lynch pushing into a No.11 department where Clare have struggled for much of the summer.
By far the most question marks of any of the remaining four.
Having wobbled out of the All-Ireland quarter-final with a head injury, Conor Cleary’s current wellbeing is unknown. If he is not in a position to play, Conor Leen is the automatic addition to Clare’s last line of defence.
But even if Cleary is passed fit for involvement, might Lohan go with Leen regardless?
When Dublin sought to create an isolated one-on-one between Ronan Hayes and Cleary, and exploit the Clare full-back in the process, the Banner management preferred Darragh Lohan for such an exposed gig and duly made the on-field swap.
Limerick thrive on isolated one-on-one contests and will attempt to create same for both Aaron Gillane and Shane O’Brien inside? Is there room for Cleary in that scenario?
In the half-back line, the wellbeing of David McInerney is similarly unknown. He limped out of the quarter-final with an ankle injury.
If the same ankle is no longer problematic, then the 33-year-old goes back in at No.6. If not, does Lohan turn back to 37-year-old John Conlon? Niall O’Farrell is the other from the three-strong group to occupy the centre-back berth in this championship.
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