MUNSTER FOOTBALL SEMI-FINAL:CORK DEFENDER and captain Graham Canty has rated himself a doubtful starter for Sunday's Munster football semi-final against Kerry – a rematch of last September's All-Ireland final where Kerry beat the reigning Munster champions.

Canty’s football season to date has been severely limited, firstly with a hamstring injury, and more recently a shoulder injury, and he’s actually one of several Cork players in danger of missing the latest showdown with Kerry, which has a 4pm throw-in in Killarney.

Although he is back training, Canty fears his lack of match practice may come against him when manager Conor Counihan decides on his starting 15 – although Counihan is adamant he’ll give Canty every chance of playing.

“I’m fit, but my match fitness is away down,” says Canty. “It’s a matter of trying to get my match fitness up. You have to get your sharpness and timing back up because you haven’t had games. I have only played a couple of club games and maybe one or two inter-county challenge games.”

Canty’s shoulder injury is the acromioclavicular joint separation, or AC separation – which is different to a dislocated shoulder, and not as serious. He sustained it in the final round of the league against Mayo, having missed all the earlier rounds with his hamstring injury, and thus subsequently missed the league final – also against Mayo – where Cork rode out comfortable winners, 1-17 to 0-12.

“It was my first full game of the year, and I only managed to last about half an hour of it,” he explained. “I had possession and I just took a knock on it. You might take 20 way heavier knocks in a game, but that’s just the way it goes. I didn’t have a problem with it before. It’s a new injury for me.

“It has improved an awful lot in the last two weeks, but it’s still there and it’s still niggling. It’s just something I have to deal with. It is frustrating, particularly coming on the back of the disappointment of last year. I was hoping to hit the ground running at the start of the season. I had a bit of a hamstring injury and I said I’d just concentrate on sorting that out, which I did. And them I’m hit with the shoulder injury.

“But there’s no point in dwelling on it. You just have to focus on what’s now and what’s immediate. At the moment I am injury free and that’s great. The disappointment is behind me and I’m just looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Canty didn’t play in recent challenge games against Kildare and Leitrim, focusing instead on rehab, but chances are he will play some part on Sunday. Definitely ruled out are two other starters from last September’s All-Ireland final – as Anthony Lynch remains sidelined with a groin injury, and fellow defender John Miskella with a hamstring injury.

Goalkeeper Alan Quirke is also troubled with a groin injury, midfielder Nicholas Murphy has a back complaint, and Pearse O’Neill has only recently returned to full training after a broken thumb.

Yet Canty believes Cork do have strength in numbers now to compensate for at least some of their injury problems: “So far the team has coped pretty well. The league performances were good enough, and they ended up winning a national title, so it can’t have been too unsettling. The lads came in and staked a claim. They have pushed back their shoulders, stuck out their chests and they have staked a claim on a place. There are fellas champing at the bit to get in the 15, and lads are pushing hard to cement their place.”

Eoin Cadogan, one of the country’s last remaining dual players at intercounty level, is certain to feature after his exceptional display for the Cork hurlers in their win over Tipperary last Sunday.

Kerry are reporting some injury concerns of their own, including Kieran Donaghy and Paul Galvin; Donaghy didn’t finish a trial game in Killarney over the weekend due to a groin injury, and Galvin didn’t take part at all due to an ankle strain – and while there progress will be monitored this week it’s unlikely they’ll miss out.

David Moran, Barry John Keane and Darran O’Sullivan are potential replacements although few changes are expected from the team which defeated Tipperary last month.