A FEW days before Sunday's Cork county senior hurling final against Blackrock, just one slight injury worry for Newtownshandrum.

"John O'Connor, he has a thigh and knee problem", reported selector Patsy Morrissey last night. "He's on the treatment table as we speak, but he should be alright".

In a surprise move, O'Connor, younger brother of twins Jerry and Ben, had been dropped for the drawn semi-final against Sars but came on as a sub in that game and played well. John then started the replay but in another surprise move, former Cork senior centre-forward Mike Morrissey was relegated to the substitute bench.

Patsy Morrissey explained the reasoning behind that. "Our team has been together very, very little over the season. Four of them were training with Cork right through the season, and before that, Mike Morrissey was with them as well. The Cork panel was cut then after the Wexford game in the league, in Wexford Park, and Mike came back to us, came back injured at that, and he's never fully recovered.

"Mike is a big man, needs to be active all the time, and any injury sets him back a bit, takes him a long time to recover. In recent games, he suffered a dip in his form, but that's not to say he's not a very important part of our plans. The shape of the team is pretty much there at this stage, but the starting 15 hasn't been finalised yet. Mike is very much in the running".

The disruption to Newtown's season was most evident in the inconsistency of their league performances, but there were even greater problems.

"While it's a great honour for the club to have so many players involved with Cork, it has its own implications for our team here. Along with the five lads, James Bowles (full-forward) was another who was away from us, with the Cork minor team.

"You take six top players from any team but especially from a club this size, it has a huge effect. There were games in the league we couldn't fulfil, we couldn't complete our league programme, and not a lot of people know that. It's a big problem for us".

The numbers game is reflected in the fact that while Sars could afford the luxury of naming 33 players for the semi-final replay, Newtown listed just 24, and those 24 are almost identical to those for last year's final Blackrock, too, remain almost unchanged, a fact that surprises Patsy. "Coming from a club as small as Newtown, we don't have any choice really, the numbers are small, players are scarce on the ground for us. We can't really change an awful lot, whereas the Rockies have a huge population, they could probably put out a second senior team. Quality is what counts, not quantity, and there is no doubting the inherent quality in this Newtownshandrum side. County intermediate champions in 1996, senior kingpins in 2000, finalists last year, three U-21 A crowns in succession, they are a serious side, worthy finalists this weekend.

Their semi-final replay win over Sars, while not emphatic, was never in doubt, but Patsy Morrissey, a former standout in both defence and attack, reckons the best is yet to come.

"In the drawn game against Sars, Paddy Gahan (their keeper) made three massive saves, kept them in the game almost on his own, and then there was the late shot by Jerry O'Connor, which I believe hit the stanchion. If we'd got one or two of those goals early on we'd have beaten Sars the first day, but, as it was, we were confident enough of beating them in the replay. We did, but we still didn't play well.

Some people are making us favourites, why, I don't know. The Rockies are going for three-in-a-row, and they have the extra incentive of sending Alan Cummins off on his honeymoon with another county title. But we're going up there very determined to do well and if we play well, if we both play to our potential, it could be a great game".