Cork manager Pat Ryan confident that Mark Coleman will be back for championship

Cork hurling manager Pat Ryan is optimistic that Mark Coleman will be available again for the beginning of the Munster championship.

Coleman, who missed all of last year’s inter-county campaign with a knee injury, had returned to the side for the Allianz HL games against Kilkenny and Waterford but sustained a fractured jaw on a training camp in Kerry last weekend.

Thankfully, the Blarney man is not likely to be absent for too long. While he will miss the remaining two league games, away to Offaly this Sunday and away to Wexford the following Saturday, the Rebels are hopeful that he could be in contention for the opening Munster SHC match away to Waterford on April 21.

Cork host Clare a week after that and have a break before the home game against Limerick on May 11 before completing their round-robin schedule away to Tipperary on May 19.

“Obviously, Mark’s injury is a disappointment,” he says, “it was just one of those incidents, he got caught by the tail-end of a hurley after a fella being hooked.

“We’d hope that he’d be back for Waterford but missing the two league games is the big problem.

“He’s probably four-to-six-weeks non-contact so we’ll have to see where it goes. It’s not season-ending or anything like that, thankfully.

“He’ll be easily back for the Limerick game at the latest. Ideally, he’d be back into contact after four weeks.”