CORK DUAL STAR Eoin Cadogan admits he’s not sure if the red card he picked up against Armagh last weekend, rules him out of the league decider with Dublin on Easter Sunday.

The Douglas man departed hours later for a training camp on the Algarve with the county’s hurlers - and when he faced the media yesterday, said he had no idea what was going on.

“I suppose I would’ve flown out 5 o’clock Monday morning and only got back yesterday,” he said. “We had a training camp with the hurlers and I have no update on it really.

“I haven’t even got a referee’s report or anything like that so at the moment it’s really up in the air and I couldn’t even comment to be honest. I haven’t even appealed it or anything like that.

“I don’t even know what I’m reported for, so I can’t say really if I’m going to appeal or not you know.”

Cadogan was dismissed for what he described yesterday as an attempt to break free from Steven McDonnell. The Orchard legend has since spoken of his hope that Cadogan will indeed line out at GAA HQ on Sunday week.

The Corkman appreciated the gesture.

“Steven McDonnell has been a great servant for Armagh and he’s been captain of the International Rules team and fair play to him it’s a good sign of him as a man and I appreciate those comments at the end of the day.

“I think the GAA is an organisation where everyone backs each other and fair play to him for those comments, I appreciate them,” he added.

With him or without him, Conor Counihan plans for a meeting with the dubs in a full Croke Park in little over a week. Earlier, at the same press event, Footballer of the Year admitted that the Rebels will bear little resemblance to the side he faced earlier in the year. And Cadogan says Pat Gilroy’s outfit will have the edge regardless.

“If you ask me they’re the in-form team really. They’re hurting that bit since the All-Ireland semi-final defeat last year.

“They would have felt themselves that they left it behind them that day and you couldn’t blame for that; we were lucky to get out of town.

“But they’re flying at the moment, they’re trying out new players every week and they seem to be slotting in, no hassle. We’re going to have our hands full in the league final.”

Back to the future

Despite his disappointment at probably missing his second league final in as many years, after last year sitting out the win at Croker through a stress fracture injury, Cadogan takes heart from the face that he’ll be in red again this Sunday.

“I can play this weekend against Dublin in the hurling. That’s the only positive coming out of it. The Dublin (hurling) game is going to be a big one really.

“They’re bulling to get into a league final spot and you know we’ve got four or five good days there in a training camp in Vilamoura and hopefully it will be a good game Sunday.”

And in a week in which Kerry had to defend their spending on a warm-weather camp, Cadogan insists Cork’s break in Portugal was ‘beneficial’.

“It was very good. I got out of town at a good time really. The phone was turned off outside in Portugal and we got a bit of sun anyway so what more can you ask for?

“[The panel] flew out on Friday and I joined up on Monday and then came back [Wednesday]. It was beneficial, the lads got two or three sessions per day and you got to know different players on the team. It’s good for a bonding point of view too,” he said.

Just how beneficial the trip has been, might be revealed when Denis Walsh and his charges welcome Dublin to Páirc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday. Anthony Daly is hoping a win on Leeside and results elsewhere will see his young side through to the decider. And Cadogan expects a battle.

“Dublin are going to come down trying top beat us. But this weekend we’re on our home patch, the weather’s getting better so it’s the last competitive game before championship, so we’ll give it a go anyway.

“You have to look at the way Dublin are performing. They’re no longer a team plugging away, they went down and nearly beat Kilkenny and had a fantastic league run.

“They’ve big strong players coming through and you’d be foolish to write off Dublin, they’ve come on leaps and bounds in the past few years and theyre a serious outfit,” he added.

Eoin Cadogan, Dublin’s Bernard Brogan and Michael Murphy from Donegal, went head-to-head on the Kinect Sports™ for Xbox 360. Check out the Xbox LIVE Ireland page for further details: www.xbox.com/en-IE/