Lehane and Cooper boost for Cork

Cork pair Conor Lehane and Bill Cooper are both expected to be fit for Sunday's Munster SHC final against Clare in Thurles.

Midleton forward Lehane, 24, was substituted towards the end of the 0-23 to 1-15 semi-final victory over Waterford with an ankle injury, while Youghal midfielder Cooper, 29, has been struggling with a hamstring injury.

However, Cork manager Kieran Kingston says both players are expected to be fit for the showpiece occasion at Semple Stadium, the Rebels' first provincial final since 2014.

But Sarsfields defender Conor O’Sullivan, 28, who has yet to feature in this year's Championship, misses out with a hamstring injury

"Conor Lehane and Bill will be OK," Kingston said. 

"We're happy enough that they'll be OK. Conor O’Sullivan is out, but Conor and Bill will be available for selection."

Kingston has 12 Under-21 players in his panel, with Mark Coleman, Darragh Fitzgibbon, Luke Meade and Kingston's  son, Shane, all likely to start on Sunday, and the Cork boss says a crucial part of his job is identifying and promoting young talent.

"That's why you're in the job, to make decisions you feel are in the best interests of Cork hurling," he said.

"The younger lads are not trying to complicate it. We don't complicate it with them. That gives a great balance to the team, because they don't do tactics, they just go out and play it as they see it."

Cork, with five debutants, beat All-Ireland holders Tipperary by 2-27 to 1-26 in the Munster quarter-final, and followed it up with a five-point win over Waterford, but Kingston is keen to play down expectations ahead of Sunday's final against the Banner County.

"I want to stress that we are only starting out on the journey. We’ve done nothing," the Minane native said.

"We've a game on Sunday against Clare and the happiest people leaving Thurles the last day after we beat Waterford were the Clare management and the Clare players.

"And that would have been the same when we beat Tipperary. Clare played us in a challenge game before we played Tipperary on the basis that they wouldn't be seeing us in the Munster Championship.

"You can totally understand that, we were rank outsiders."

Images: Inpho/ Ken Sutton

eir sport channels are available across the eir Vision, Sky and Vodafone TV platforms as well as on the eir Sport app. All 7 channels in the eir Sport pack are available for free if you are a residential eir broadband customer.