Major injury worries for Templenoe
TEMPLENOE look set to be without two of their top players for this weekend’s County Intermediate Football Championship final against An Ghaeltacht (Sunday, Austin Stack Park, 3pm).
The 2016 All Ireland Junior Club champions look set to face the side they defeated in last year’s semi-final without the services of Kerry senior panellist Adrian Spillane and up and coming wing-back Patrick Clifford.
“[They’re] serious worries to be quite honest with you,” Templenoe boss John Hussey told The Kerryman this week.
“We’ll give them up to the last minute, but their chances of playing are slim enough. Patrick broke a bone in his hand, he had surgery in his hand and pins and everything else inserted and he’s only getting the cast off next week, so Patrick is 99% not going to play and Adrian got a shoulder injury.
“He’s a lot of damage done there, so he’s highly unlikely to play as well to be honest.”
The pair of injuries would seem to be serious damage to Templenoe’s chances against the west Kerry outfit.
“Huge blows,” Hussey admitted. “I’m particularly sorry for Patrick because, he was only after coming back from shoulder surgery during the year. He’s only back to us since the end of June, it’s a tough blow to Patrick, but it’s a chance for others to come in and stand up hopefully.”
The outlook seems sunnier for their rivals in Sunday’s final. The only injury worry An Ghaeltacht have is for exciting forward Tomás Ó Sé, who went off injured while playing for West Kerry in the County Championship semi-final with Dr Crokes earlier this month.
“We won’t know until nearer the time, but hopefully he’ll be available to us,” Gaeltacht selector Dara Ó Cinnéide said.
“He’s being treated obviously since the game and it’s coming along nicely, so we won’t know. He’ll obviously have to have something done between here and Sunday week, but we’re obviously doing everything we can to get him right and he came off straight away after getting injured so there wasn’t any kind of lingering damage.”
Dromid Pearses are sweating on the fitness of Niall O’Shea for their County Junior Final with Firies on Saturday, after he picked up an injury wuith South Kerry in Sunday’s county SFC final. Firies have injury concerns with Mike Daly and Liam Brosnan.
Dr Crokes, meanwhile, report a clean bill of health ahead of this weekend’s Munster Club Championship quarter-final with the defending provincial champions heading to south Tipperary to face Clonmel Commercials.