Tipperary defender, Seamus Kennedy, looks set to miss the Munster SHC semi-final because of a medial knee ligament injury.
By John Harrington
Defending All-Ireland champions Tipperary will be without Seamus Kennedy for their Munster SHC semi-final against either Limerick or Clare on November 1.
The talented half-back is rehabbing a strained knee ligament and won't have recovered fully in time for the match, though the injury is not that serious according to Tipperary manager, Liam Sheedy.
"Seamus Kennedy at the moment is the one who's probably not going to make it," revealed Sheedy tonight.
"He's in a brace. He gave his medial ligament a strain. He should be out of the brace before the game but he won't be available at this stage for selection which is unfortunate.
"He won't make it for the first piece of action but he shouldn't be long after that before we have him back in the fray. It's not a long-term injury, thankfully."
In better news for Tipperary supporters, classy forward John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer has put his injury woes behind himself and is in contention for a place in the team for the Munster semi-final.
O'Dwyer has been hampered for some time by a troublesome ankle injury that required surgery, but Sheedy says he has looked sharp in training in recent weeks.
"John has had a really tough time of it," said Sheedy. "He was in a boot nearly for four weeks over the course of the summer. Really when you look back since the All-Ireland Final last year he's had very, very limited activity. He's been really tested by an injury that we just couldn't get right. The operation has been done and he's back training really hard.
"I would give the guy huge kudos for the way he has gone about his business for the last four or five weeks because, as I said, that injury really impacted his ability to prepare. But for the last few weeks he's been superb. He's coming really strong and it looks like the injury is behind him.
"Hopefully now over the next week or ten days we can fine-tune him again. But he's made giant strides and it looks like he will be fit and available for selection for the first of November, all going well."
John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer in action during the 2019 All Ireland SHC Final.
The Tipperary manager also had good news on Patrick 'Bonner' Maher who missed much of last year's inter-county championship after rupturing knee ligaments but impressed during this year's club championship with Lorrha-Dorrha.
“He’s going great," said Sheedy. "He’s a great guy, he’s a real warrior. Probably great for him that his club Lorrha made the final stages of the Seamus O Riain competition, which was very, very positive for him.
"It allowed him to get pitch action because I think building him up the club scenario was probably the ideal opportunity for him to get some exposure to real high intensity games without maxing out so yeah and, as I said, he’s come back into us in great shape.
"He’s had a very, very solid club campaign and I think we all know the Bonner that’s been there over the last number of years, he’s worked very hard and I think he’s a real shining example. The impact that he had on the group in 2019 when he wasn’t inside the white lines was immense really.
"He just has that natural leadership skills that you want around your squad and it’s great to see him back inside the white lines because I think we all know that’s where he makes the biggest impact and for him, he was having a really good 2019 Championship.
"Everything was going extremely well for him until he got his injury so we’ll be very happy if Bonner picks up where he left off in 2019, that’s for sure."
