Shanahan and Bennett lose out as Waterford ring the changes

THE Lismore duo of Allstar Dan Shanahan and Dave Bennett have been left out of Waterford side for Sunday's Allianz NHL opener against Wexford at Dungarvan.

There's no place either for Eoin McGrath, while UCC's Shane O'Sullivan, who starred against his home county in the final of the Waterford Crystal Shield last Sunday, is also named among the subs.

Also out are Ken McGrath, currently serving a suspension, his Mount Sion clubmate Tony Browne, who is working abroad, while the long serving Fergal Hartley recently announced his retirement from the inter-county scene.

Making their league debuts are corner-back Denis Coffey of the St. Mary's (Touraneena) club and De La Salle teenager Kevin Moran who is named at left half back.

Michael Walsh and Eoin Kelly team up at midfield, and in attack team captain Paul Flynn is named at left half forward with two other league debutants, Conor Carey (Passage East) and Gearoid O'Connor (Ballygunner), selected in the corner forward berths.

John Mullane moves from his accustomed corner slot to right-half with Jack Kennedy taking over at full-forward and Seamas Prendergast moving to the "40" to lead the sector.

Oulart-The-Ballagh defender Keith Rossiter has been handed the captaincy of the Wexford senior hurling team.

Rossiter, who has established himself as a promising young defender over the past two years, has been nominated by his club who are county champions.

A skilful corner-back, he follows in the footsteps of clubmate Michael Jacob who captained the team last year.

Meanwhile, manager Seamus Murphy could be without at least seven regulars after an injury crisis hit the camp. Such is his desperation that he may be forced to include Darragh Ryan in his regular full-back slot.

Ryan, who only returned to training last Thursday, had indicated that he would not be available for the opening three league games in order to protect his knees, having undergone a series of operations over recent seasons.

Meanwhile Dublin hand league debuts to Tomas Brady (Na Fianna), Peadar Carton (O'Toole's) and Padraig O'Driscoll (Lucan) for Sunday's NHL Division 2 opener against Derry in Lavey (2.30). O'Driscoll is a native of Cork but has been playing with Lucan for the past three seasons.

However, Carton, younger brother of fellow senior Michael, has senior championship experience having come on as a sub in several of Dublin's games last summer, including against Offaly, Waterford and Clare in the SHC qualifier and Laois in the Leinster SHC.

The Dubs have been boosted by the inclusion of Ronan Fallon at centre-back.

Sunday's starting 15 contains seven players who played in last summer's SHC relegation semi-final victory over Laois - Gary Maguire, Greg Bennett, Ronan Fallon, Damien Russell, Tommy Moore and David Curtin.

Both Kilkenny and Laois, who meet at Nowlan Park on Sunday are not due to announce their teams until tonight. However, Kilkenny manager Brian Cody is likely to introduce four newcomers - John Maher (St. Martin's), Aidan Fogarty (Emeralds) and the Carrickshock duo of John Dalton and Michael Rice.

The Offaly team to play All-Ireland champions Cork in Birr is also expected to be revealed tonight but grave doubts surround the availability of Joe Bergin and Aidan Hanrahan.

WATERFORD (SH v Wexford): C. Hennessy; D. Coffey. T. Feeney. E. Murphy; B. Phelan. J. Murray. K. Moran; E. Kelly. M. Walsh; J. Mullane. S. Prendergast. P. Flynn; C. Carey. J. Kennedy. G. O'Connor.

DUBLIN (SH v Derry): - G. Maguire; P. Brennan, K. Ryan, T. Brady; G. Bennett, R. Fallon, A. de Paor; D. Sweeney, P. O'Driscoll; S. McDonnell, D. Russell, T. Moore; K. Flynn, D. Curtin, P. Carton.

DERRY (SH v Dublin): K. Stevenson; A. Rafferty, L. Hinphey, G. Brunton; P. Sweeney, M. Conway (c), P. O'Kane; E. Farren, M. Craig; R. Convery, G. Biggs, K. Hinphey; S. McBride, P. Hearty, C. Quinn.

MAYO (SH v Kildare): T. Duffy; D. Walsh, P. Hunt, S. Coyne; P. Barrett, D. McDonnell, G. White; D. McConn, S. Broderick; S. Morley, K. Higgins, S. Leneghan; P. Higgins, P. Broderick, S. Hunt.

LOUTH (SH v Leitrim): J. Carter; R. Byrne, A. Mynes, S. Darcy; D. Callan, P. Dunne, S. Kennedy; D. McCarthy, S. Callan; T. Hilliard, D. Dunne, P. Coyle; S. Fennell, P. Donoghue, G. Smith.

LOUTH (U21 FC v Wicklow): B. Gallagher; S. Fitzpatrick, P. Osbourne, S. Gilsenan; C. Sheridan, M. Fanning, J. O'Brien; R. Carroll,. R. Leavy; J. Murray, H. McGinn, B. White; T. O'Brien, S. Lennon, C. Judge.

WEXFORD (U-21 FC v Kilkenny): T. Hughes; J. Byrne, L. Kent, J. Wadding; B. Malone, G. Molloy, A. Doyle; P. Murphy, C. Farrell; A. Griffin, D. Shannon, P. Hughes; P. Atkinson, PJ Banville, D. Kehoe.