CILLIAN O’CONNOR has emerged as an injury doubt for Mayo ahead of their All-Ireland series clash with Kerry on Saturday week.
Mayo manager Kevin McStay said that O’Connor is ‘right at the edge of returning to play’ and that ‘it’s very tight’ whether or not the championship’s all-time leading scorer will be ready to line out.
O’Connor missed the National League Final win over Galway due to a knee injury and came off the bench during Mayo’s defeat to Roscommon in the Connacht championship five weeks ago.
Speaking at a media briefing in Castlebar on Friday morning, McStay said: “Cillian O’Connor is right at the edge of returning to play and we will make a decision on that for the next match. It’s very tight and we might wait for the following one depending on medical, physio and S&C inputs and then our decision.
”The next time we have him back we’ll be hoping to have him back for the rest of the season because his inputs have been really good when he has come on or started,” he added.
McStay also announced his 36-man panel for the remainder of the championship.
He explained that there were three players currently injured — Cillian O’Connor, Brendan Harrison and Rory Brickenden — but apart from that he was working with a fit, energetic squad.
Four players — Mikey Murray, Bryan Walsh and Westport duo Mark Moran and Niall McManamon — had left the group when recurring injuries failed to clear up.
However, the Ballina native said he will be looking for them again when they recover.
“The six-week break between the Roscommon game and next weekend has given us a pause to give lads the opportunity to repair well,” said McStay. “We have three injuries currently which leaves us with 33 currently available to us for the next few weeks.”
The manager went on to say that he hopes to have both Harrison and Brickenden available for selection as the season progresses.
Former All-Star Harrison is recovering from a knee ligament injury and his rehabilitation is positive and ahead of schedule.
Brickenden had surgery on a shoulder problem and is also rehabbing extremely well, according to McStay.
He also spoke about four men who had stepped away from the squad in recent weeks.
“They’ve worked so hard but keep getting knocked back with recurring injuries. The agreement was that they’ll go back to their clubs and see if nature heals them and gets them back again. These are good lads and, I said to them, if they’re not back in the panel next year, it will be their fault not mine. Because we’ll be going looking for them and it’s up to them to put themselves in the shop window again.”
You can read Kevin McStay’s interview in full in next week’s edition of The Mayo News.
MAYO SQUAD
Aidan O’Shea, Aiden Orme, Bob Tuohy, Brendan Harrison, Conor Loftus, Conor McStay, Cillian O’Connor, Colm Reape, David McBrien, Darren McHale, Diarmuid O’Connor, Donnacha McHugh, Eoghan McLaughlin, Enda Hession, Fionn McDonagh, Frank Irwin, Jack Carney, Jack Coyne, James Carr, Jason Doherty, James McCormack, Jordan Flynn, Kevin McLaughlin, Matthew Ruane, Michael Plunkett, Paddy Durcan (captain), Padraic O’Hora, Paul Towey, Rob Hennelly, Rory Brickenden, Rory Byrne, Ruairi Keane, Ryan O’Donoghue, Sam Callinan, Stephen Coen (vice-captain), Tommy Conroy (vice-captain).
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