Cork ladies footballers suffer injury blow for Dublin quarter-final with Dara Kiniry and Rachel Leahy out

It’s going to be a busy Saturday for Cork GAA fans.

As well as the hurlers in action at Croke Park the senior ladies footballers are also in Dublin on Saturday night.

They face Dublin in the quarter-final of the TG4 All-Ireland ladies football championship at Parnell Park, throw-in 7.30pm.

Cork were dealt a huge blow ahead of the game when manager, Joe Carroll, confirmed that both Dara Kiniry and Rachel Leahy are not only gone for tomorrow but for the rest of the season should Cork progress.

"Rachel has a shoulder problem and Dara has an issue with her foot, neither of them will be available against Dublin," said Carroll.

"They’re two big blows. Both players started against Waterford, so they’re significant losses. It affects the panel as well because whoever comes in to replace them leaves us shorter elsewhere."

Cork will now have to plan without them, Shauna Kelly most likely to move to full-back instead of Kiniry and there are several options to come in for Leahy in attack.

It’s hoped that many of the Cork supporters up for the hurling game will make their way to Parnell Park afterwards to support the ladies side in their bid to reach the semi-final.

Go back a short few weeks and it looked like their season was coming to an end, after a defeat to Armagh in the opening round of the All-Ireland series.

But, just like many of their respective football sides in the past, they showed massive courage, skill and determination to bounce back from that loss.

They head to Dungarvan to take on Waterford in a game the Rebels had to win and with less than 10 minutes to go it wasn’t looking good.

They trailed the Deise by five points, but in a storming finish Katie Quirke kicked the winning score to see Cork come out on top and they were back in the hunt.

Cork then needed Armagh to beat Waterford in the final group game, which the Ulster side did to see the Déise crash out and the Rebels move on. The draw wasn’t very kind to Cork as they were drawn against the defending champions in Dublin, and also away from home.

IMPROVED

The Dubs were relegated from Division 1 of the Lidl NFL, but they were also the only side to beat Cork during that campaign. Since then, Dublin have gone on to win the Leinster championship and were undefeated in the round robin series of the All-Ireland championship.

In their league encounter, as the same venue as the game tomorrow, Dublin won by 2-8 to 1-6, but it was a game that mattered little to Cork.

They were already in the league final, which they went on to win, and Dublin were fighting for their lives to try and avoid the drop.

Even though Cork lost by five points there were plenty of positives to take from that tie.

On another day they could easily have had four or more goals as Dublin keeper, Abby Shiels, made at least four top-class saves to deny Cork green flags.

They can also take heart, that despite playing against the wind in the second half they came from 2-5 to 0-4 down and could easily have won if it weren’t for Shiels having the game of her life.

Along with Shiels, Dublin will look to the likes of Niamh Hetherton, Caoimhe O’Connor, Orlagh Nolan, Jodi Egan and Lauren Magee are just some of the players Dublin will look to tomorrow night.

They will be favourites to advance, but so too were Waterford in their clash with Cork. You can never write this side off and Carroll, will have them well prepared for this tough tie.

Cork will have to replicate and increase their levels of play from the Déise game to have any chance of winning this one.

It’s going to be a tough ask, but one they are capable of winning and they should go into it in confident form after their recent dramatic win.

Their form did slip after their league title success but Carroll will hope that Waterford tie sees them back on track.

From the full-back line, which includes Melissa Duggan and Shauna Kelly, to others like Abbie O’Mahony, Grace Murphy, and Emma Cleary, there is talent all over the pitch.

Katie Quirke has been outstanding again this season and alongside her Aine O’Sullivan has been back to her best recently.

The winners of this tie will face either Kerry or Meath in the semi-final, with the Kingdom firm favourites to advance.