Kilkenny have been given a big boost ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-final with Tipperary as Eoin Cody is set to be available, but Cork veteran Seamus Harnedy will not feature at Croke Park against Dublin.
Cody missed the Leinster final victory over Galway, having been in prolific form in the Leinster Hurling Championship round-robin opening games.
He scored 1-05 against the Tribesmen and followed it up with 1-13 against Antrim, only for injury to disrupt his season.
Cats boss Derek Lyng told RTÉ Sport today that Cody has been training for the last fortnight and he will now decide whether to start him in the clash with Tipp.
Lyng said: “Eoin Cody has trained well in the last couple of weeks. Eoin has been an important player over the years and he has done a huge amount of work in the last few weeks to get himself back, as have some others over the year.
“We’ve had a few niggles, but the competition has been there and we saw that in the Leinster final as well.
“We’re going to need everything. We know that it’s a 20-man game now and players who don’t start and come on have a huge role to play, and that’s going to be very important this weekend.”
Rebels’ half-forward Harnedy, who turns 35 in just over a fortnight, misses Saturday’s last-four clash against Dublin, having scored two points in the Munster SHC final penalty shootout victory over Limerick.
Cork manager Pat Ryan told The Echo: “Séamus has a hamstring issue, unfortunately.
“He’s back running in training this week. You’d be hoping he’d be back if we made it to the final but it’ll need some work.”
Ryan added that wing-back Ger Millerick had recovered from a broken finger sustained in the win over Waterford but might not have had enough training to be involved while he revealed that captain Rob Downey and corner-back Niall O’Leary should be fit to start, having come off the bench in the provincial decider.
Forward Declan Dalton has also recovered from the hamstring problem that kept him out altogether against Limerick.
Kilkenny will also be without Harry Shine and Marty Murphy.
Shine, a late sub against Galway, has ruptured his cruciate ligament, while Under-20 forward Murphy, who has yet to make his championship debut, has a hamstring problem.
Lyng said: “I think we’ve had a very competitive squad all year. Unfortunately we’ve lost a couple of players with injuries. We have a few lads coming back.
“When you get to another semi-final it just goes up another couple of notches as well, so we have to be ready for that but it’s a great challenge and one we’re looking forward to.
“We’ve had a few injuries with Harry Shine and Marty Murphy in the last week, so they won’t be involved.
“We have a session again on Wednesday night and it’s about getting the minds and heads ready now for the weekend.”
