Rebel camp hoping for positive news on Canty

Munster SFC Fallout: Cork's footballers must wait until later this week to learn if Graham Canty will be fit for next month's All-Ireland quarter-final against Donegal or Fermanagh. Canty, one of the best defenders in the country, was stretchered off the field near the end of Sunday's Munster final against Kerry in Páirc Uí Chaoimh with a knee injury.

Billy Morgan, the team manager, says that the player's season is in the balance.

"Graham went to see Tadhg O'Sullivan (a specialist in Ardkeen hospital, Waterford) today. The cartilage is definitely torn but because of the swelling it was impossible to get an idea about the cruciate. We'd hope to able to get a scan later in the week. If it's only cartilage he'll be out for just a couple of weeks . . . if it's the cruciate his season's over."

Canty played a major role in Cork's victory by taking on the key job of shadowing Colm Cooper, who scored just one point from play over the 140 minutes of the two games.

Winning the Munster title has been a major achievement for a team that was available at 6 to 1 before the drawn match. Morgan and his selectors were criticised for making radical changes after a lacklustre semi-final win over Limerick. It's criticism that irritates the manager, who says the selection was a natural progression rather than a panic reaction.

"People came out and talked about all the changes we'd made but if they'd looked at the team that finished against Limerick they'd have seen it was more or less the same that started in Killarney. Seán O'Brien and Donnacha O'Connor had done very well when they came on. Noel O'Leary was out with a virus and Seán Levis with a hamstring. Otherwise that was the team."

This is the third year since Morgan's second coming. Appointed to the role in which he won All-Irelands in 1989 and 1990, he came in at a downbeat time for the county. Defeats by Limerick and Roscommon had made a disaster of the 2003 season.

"The first year we were there we gave the players who were in place their chance . . . but when we realised it was time to move on, we discarded some and brought in new players."

Last season produced good performances in the league and creditable efforts in the Munster final against Kerry and the All-Ireland quarter-final defeat of Galway.

In retrospect a narrow loss might have been preferable as the team took a savage beating by Kerry in the semi-final. Morgan believes that catastrophic conclusion distorted the whole season.

"That heavy defeat took the gloss off the progress that we made and it was a worry how much it would damage them psychologically. But we stuck with them and they stuck with us . . . We were also able to bring in Michael Prout and Ger Spillane and Michael Shields, a very good minor now in his second year at under-21."

The enthusiasm and confidence of the younger players in what was for many a first senior final was vital to Cork's success. Their graduation comes after a sequence of under-21 successes in the province, which Morgan believes has helped greatly.

"I think Cork over the past couple of years have struggled because underage was left go a bit . . . but Tony Leahy and John Cleary have done great work at under-21 and won the last three Munster titles."

He accepts that Kerry, who have looked tired and drained of late, were an inviting target.

"I can't deny that. Even though they won the league they weren't overly impressive in the championship so it was a good time to get them."

Cork having lost an All-Ireland qualifier to Fermanagh, likely outsiders in their upcoming match with Donegal, two years ago, the quarter-final isn't a matter for complacency but Morgan says Cork have learned even from last year's trauma: "I wouldn't take anything for granted against Donegal or Fermanagh but I think we're that bit steelier and more battle-hardened."