Ó hAilpín makes miracle return to Cork panel after hamstring injury

SEÁN ÓG Ó hAilpín has made a somewhat miraculous recovery from a hamstring injury to be included in the Cork team for tomorrow evening’s Munster hurling final replay in Thurles.

It does, however, remain to be seen if Ó hAilpín actually starts against Waterford, given he originally declared himself likely to miss the next two to three weeks because of the injury.

Ó hAilpín sustained the injury shortly after half-time in last Sunday’s draw in Thurles and was replaced by Ray Ryan, who was expected to start in the half back role tomorrow, but instead Ryan is once again named among the substitutes.

Speaking during the week, Ó hAilpín had said the “best case scenario” was that he would be out for two to three weeks, although it now appears the injury wasn’t as bad as initially feared, and was lower down the hamstring – but whether he’s alright to play some or all of the 70 minutes is still unclear.

In the meantime manager Denis Walsh has settled on one definite change, starting Michael Cussen in the half forward line, in place of Jerry O’Connor, who also retired early in the second half of the drawn game with a leg injury, but who hasn’t recovered sufficiently.

Cussen made a very big impact in Cork’s game the last day, scoring 0-1 and giving goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack a more definite target with his puck puts.

Fears that Niall McCarthy might also miss the game due to a finger injury have been allayed, the suspected broken finger turned out to be nothing more than bruising.

Meanwhile, Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy has made two changes in personal for Sunday’s phase-three qualifier game against Offaly in Portlaoise. From the team which beat Wexford in the second phase two weeks ago, corner back Paddy Stapleton and full back Paul Curran come into the starting 15 in place of Conor O’Brien and Séamus Callanan.

There are also a number of interesting positional switches, the most notable of which sees regular midfielder Shane McGrath named at centre forward, and man of the match against Wexford, David Young, named to replace him at midfield.

Noel McGrath, who hit an inspired 0-6 for the Tipperary under-21s on Wednesday night in their Munster semi-final win over Cork, is named in the full forward line alongside Lar Corbett and team captain Eoin Kelly.

Finally, Dublin hurling manager Anthony Daly has named the same team that beat Clare last Saturday for their phase three game against Antrim in Croke Park tomorrow.

CORK(SH v Waterford): D Óg Cusack; S O'Neill, E Cadogan, B Murphy; J Gardiner, R Curran, S Óg Ó hAilpín; T Kenny, C Naughton; B O'Connor, N McCarthy, M Cussen; K Murphy, A O hAilpin, P Horgan.

TIPPERARY(SH v Offaly): B Cummins; P Stapleton, P Curran, M Cahill; D Fanning, C O'Mahony, P Maher; B Maher, D Young; G Ryan, S McGrath, P Maher; N McGrath, L Corbett, E Kelly.

DUBLIN(SH v Antrim): G Maguire; N Corcoran, T Brady, O Gough; S Hiney, J Boland, M O'Brien; J McCaffrey, S Durkin; P Kelly, L Rushe, A McCrabbe; P Carton, D O'Dwyer, D O'Callaghan.