Cruciate woe for Cork star Canty
Munster football champions Cork have been dealt a massive blow with the news that Graham Canty has been ruled out for the rest of the season.
Widely recognised as one of the country’s top defenders, Canty underwent exploratory surgery on his right knee yesterday, and it revealed the worst possible scenario for the player and manager Billy Morgan – a torn cruciate ligament.
The Bantry Blues clubman sustained the injury ten minutes from the end of Cork’s Munster final replay win over Kerry a fortnight ago.
Morgan described it as “a big blow” to “lose a player of Graham’s calibre”, but that his players must soldier on and focus on their All-Ireland quarter-final against either Fermanagh or Donegal on August 5.
It is cruel luck for Canty who had been having an excellent summer. His shackling of Kerry’s Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper was one of the highlights of the Rebels’ run through to the All-Ireland’s last-eight. He restricted Cooper, who struck 4-22 in last year’s championship, to just one point from play in 140 minutes of football.
The injury means Canty will also sit out the Coca-Cola International Rules series between Ireland and Australia in October. He captained a John O’Keeffe-managed Irish side for the 2003 series Down Under, which the Australians won by seven points.
