User:rorynoonanDate:10/01/2013Time:11:53:00Edition:10/01/2013Thuthurecho100113Page:56Color:

EE - V1

SOCCER

By MARK WOODSGAA

SPORTEvening Echo

Eoin backfor Rebels

CORK footballersexpect to have EoinCadogan back train-ing tonight and beavailable for selec-tion for the Mc-Grath Cupquarter-finalagainst Tipperaryat Páirc Uí Rinn onSunday at 2pm.The 26-year-old dual

star is due back from hol-iday in Australia and islikely to figure at somestage against Tipp asCork build-up to theiropening league gameagainst Dublin at CrokePark on February 2.The team to face Tipp

in a repeat of last year’sfinal, which Cork won by0-13 to 0-6, will be an-nounced tonight and isset to show a number ofchanges from last week’spreliminary round winover CIT.

Numbers at trainingearlier in the week wereboosted by more playerscoming back from holi-days which will givemanager Conor Couni-han further options.Fintan Goold,

Barry O’Driscoll andCarbery Rangers’Brian Shanahanare amongthose expectedto seegame-timewhile captainGraham Cantyis also close toreturning fol-

lowing injury.Daniel Goulding,

though, is still on the in-jured list while Corkawait news of the avail-ability of Aidan Walshand Ciarán Sheehan.Walsh appealed the de-

cision which preventshim from lining out withDCU in the Sigerson Cupwhile Sheehan didn’tplay for CIT againstCork, but whether he’sfree to play with thecounty remains tobe seen.Meanwhile, anumber of otherCork panelistswill be part ofthe UCC set-up

for their firstgame in the Mc-

Grath Cup against Kerryin Killarney on Sunday.They are Jamie O’Sul-

livan (Bishopstown),Eoin O’Mahony (Mac-room), Brian Coughlan(Kinsale) and TomClancy (Fermoy).There were mixed for-

tunes for Castlehavenpair, Mark Collins andBrian Hurley, in thesecond series of games inLeinster’s O’Bryne Cup.Collins received a

second yellow card latein DIT’s 0-12 to 0-8 defeatby Kildare while Hurleywas one of Carlow IT’sscorers in their shock0-12 to 0-12 win over Wex-ford.● See more GAA onP47.

Fergie hopesgame passesoff peacefullyALEX FERGUSON is crossing his fingersManchester United’s powderkeg Premier Leagueencounter with Liverpool on Sunday passes offwithout incident.It will be the first time United, who are beingheavily linked with Crystal Palace youngsterWilfried Zaha, will have met their north-west rivalsat Old Trafford since Luis Suarez refused to shakePatrice Evra’s hand in last season’s correspondingfixture.However, the pair did make their peace at Anfieldin September, which Ferguson is hopeful will be asign of things to come.“There will always be a certain build-up to aManchester United-Liverpool game, simplybecause of the history between the two clubs, thetwo most successful in the country,” Fergie said.“It brings its own agenda in terms of profile andpre-match discussion.”Behind the scenes, it seems efforts to land Zahaare intensifying, with both Arsenal and Tottenhamnow said to be distancing themselves from theteenager, who is one of English football’s hottestproperties.As Fergie prepares to face former Red DevilCristiano Ronaldo when his side take on RealMadrid in the Champions League next month,Ferguson confirmed his belief that Ronaldo hasimproved since his exit for Spain in 2009.“Maturity brings many things,” said Ferguson.“When I went to see them play against(Manchester) City, some of his decision making interms of passing was brilliant.One-touch passing, goodcrosses.“His decision-making, hismaturity, his experience makehim the completeplayer.”● See P52-53 formore.

Midleton College delight asthey retain the Mungret Cup

Midleton College captainBryan Moore raises the

trophy after defeatingBandon Grammar school in

the Mungret Cup final inCobh yesterday. See P49 for

match report.Picture: Eddie O'Hare

MUNSTER and Ireland fansbreathed a collective sigh of re-lief yesterday after Paul O’Con-nell announced that he hoped tobe back playing by April if allgoes according to plan.While he hasn’t ruled out a re-

turn for the last game of the SixNations against Italy on March16, he said he thinks it’s un-likely.“If I was it would be a bonus

but I don’t think it’s going to hap-pen. It will be sometime in April.I’ve just got to make sure I get itright and I’m right.”

And he certainly wasn’t rulingpushing for a place on the Lions.“You'd never rule it out but I'll

be back playing in April so it'sprobably going to be very tough.“You would imagine the Lions

squad is going to be picked onthe basis of the Six Nations soit’s going to be very difficult tomake it on that trip. I’d love toget back playing in April and seewhat happens.

“I’d love to get going on sometour during the summer, be itwith Ireland or the Lions.”He’ll be hoping the Reds can

make it through to the knockoutstages of the Heineken Cup.“Yeah, it would be great. We all

want to play in the big gamesand there’s no bigger games inApril than the Heineken Cupquarter-finals.”While people may have

thought otherwise, the secondrow was never fearful that thebulging disc which required sur-gery just after Christmas would

end his career.“You treat the symptoms first

and foremost but an MRI alsohelps. On the MRI it wasn’t thatbad and the symptoms weren’tthat bad either. It was only whenI played and trained that I hadsymptoms at all, really.“At the same time you never

really know with a back, but Iwas happy then with the medicalstaff and how they felt about itand particularly how the sur-geon felt about it, particularlyafter the operation.”● See more rugby on P48-50.

RUGBY

By SEAN McCARTHY

Munster ace O’Connell targets April return date

Cadogan returns from Oz tolikely play a role against Tipp

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