Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KEY INJURIES WORRY DESSIE
DUBLIN stars James McCarthy and Con O’Callaghan are in real danger of missing the All-Ireland SFC semi-final against either Kerry or Mayo in two weeks’ time.
McCarthy and O’Callaghan missed last night’s 0-21 to 0-10 quarter-final victory against Cork at Croke Park, with both reportedly suffering hamstring injuries in the build-up.
Afterwards, Farrell wouldn’t confirm the reports. “I’d prefer not to say if that’s OK,” he remarked.
“But we’re working hard to get them right.”
Farrell admitted their absence was a blow and that it impacted on his side and conceded that both were struggling to make the semi-final in two weeks time.
“Yeah, obviously it’s very disappointing for the lads themselves to miss out on today and it had a huge impact on the team as well - captain and vice-captain and two rock solid players,” said the Blues supremo.
“That was probably a factor in today’s overall performance for sure – it’s part and parcel of the game at this level, injuries and you have to be resilient.
“There’s a level of acceptance around them as well so it’s pretty much a race against time now, two weeks.
“To be picking up an injury now at this time of year is tough and we’re all hands on deck in terms of our medical staff in terms of trying to get the lads right.”
Farrell (below) added: “Probably the four-week lay-off didn’t help of course.
“We couldn’t get to the pace of it in the way we would have liked. It’s just about the result, moving on, a major step-up required.
“The first half obviously wasn’t what we would have wanted, we picked it up in the second half but probably the four-week lay-off didn’t help.
“It took us a while to shake the cobwebs but we strung some good passages of play together in the second half and we were a little bit better.”
Cork only trailed by three points at the break and Rebels boss John Cleary conceded that his side’s failure to score until the 56th minute killed any hopes they had.
“Dublin pushed up on our kickouts and we couldn’t get to grips with it,” he commented.
“Ultimately that was the complete winning and losing of the game, in the third quarter we just couldn’t make the ball stick and Dublin powered on. We had no answer.
“Some of it was OK but any time you get beaten by 11 points... for us, the ultimate aim is to get up to the very top and we’re a good bit off it there now.”