Crokes relief as Cooper in line to face Nemo

GAELIC GAMES:KERRY CHAMPIONS Dr Crokes can breathe a sigh of relief at the news Colm Cooper will be fit to play in Sunday week's postponed Munster club football final. The 2010 All Star sustained a facial injury in training last week and was sent for an X-ray but team manager Harry O'Neill confirmed yesterday evening the player was "all clear" and will be ready to face Nemo Rangers.

“We sent him for the X-ray as a precaution, really,” he said yesterday.

“Basically it was a collision in training when he and the corner back were going for a diagonal ball. He was black around the eye and there was some swelling and bruising but it settled down and I’d expect him back in action quickly.”

Crokes, for whom Cooper has been in exceptional form, have two challenge matches scheduled for this week, including one against Kerry this evening. Regardless of the X-ray results, the player is unlikely to play in that match in order to allow the injury to recover.

“He should be back for one of those matches but I would assume he more than likely won’t appear in the first of them,” according to O’Neill.

This season’s club championships have been thrown into disarray because of the heavy snowfalls of the past two months and instead of being completed before Christmas, three senior provincial finals have had to be scheduled for January.

The delays have led to a more urgent schedule for the clubs, who would normally be focusing on an All-Ireland semi-final at this time of the year.

“We’ve been back for the past couple of weeks and everything has been fine in training, apart from the four inches of snow a couple of weeks ago.”

There have been a couple of advantages to the postponement with all niggling injuries having cleared up and a certain staleness that had set in by the end of last year, most visible in how close Crokes came to being ambushed by a determined Aherlow in the provincial semi-final, which took extra-time to decide, having been remedied by the long break.

There is also the matter of getting a competitive match under the belt before progressing, should they win, to next month’s semi-final meeting with Roscommon’s St Brigid’s, the Connacht champions, and the only side left in the championship that won’t have seen action this month.

“From that point of view,” said O’Neill, “there’s a definite bonus for whoever comes out of the final.”

Opponents Nemo are the most successful team in the championship and will be pressing this year for an eighth All-Ireland, whereas the Killarney club have just one, won in 1992.

In the other semi-final, Crossmaglen Rangers, who laboured their way past British champions Neasden Gaels at the weekend and lie second to Nemo in the All-Ireland roll of honour with four, await the winners of this Sunday’s postponed Leinster final between Kilmacud Crokes and Rhode.

In order to avoid any clash of fixtures the Leinster Council have moved both of the O’Byrne Shield semi-finals, Dublin-Offaly and Meath-Laois, to Saturday night in Parnell Park and Navan’s Páirc Tailteann respectively.