Whelahan expected to be fit for Birr

BRIAN WHELAHAN is expected to play with Birr in Thursday’s county SHC clash against Kilcormac.

A hamstring injury ruled him out of Offaly’s All-Ireland qualifier against Clare last Saturday, but the extra six days should give the defender more than a 50/50 chance of playing.

Regarded as one of the most stylish players n the game, Whelahan signified at the beginning of the year that this would be his last season playing with the Faithful County.

In a career that spanned 15 years Whelahan has won two All-Ireland medals with Offaly and four All-Ireland Club medals with Birr. He was also honoured with an All-Star award and is the only player of the modern era to be named on the team of the Millennium.

He made his senior debut with Offaly in 1989 when he came on as a sub against Antrim. His father Pa Jo, the current Limerick manager, was Offaly manager that year when Antrim shocked Offaly before failing to Tipp in the All-Ireland final.

During the 1998 All-Ireland final against Kilkenny, Whelahan picked up an injury and was moved into the forwards where he scored a crucial goal in Offaly’s victory over the Cats.

Meanwhile James Kearins has no intention of stepping down as manager of the Sligo senior football team. Speculation has been mounting during the past week that there might be doubts about his future after he declined to prepare the team for the Tommy Murphy Cup campaign.

He was of the opinion that taking part in the competition (for counties no longer involved in the All-Ireland Championship) would be of little benefit to Sligo football. Kearins said at the weekend that he was not going to resign. “There is great potential in the team and I would like to be there in the future to pursue that potential.”

Sligo will face Antrim in one of the semi-finals on August 7 and county board chairman Joe Queenan said “Sligo will field a team in the tournament.”

Meanwhile County Board officials were unable to confirm whether a meeting of the players took place last weekend.

Sligo had set their sites on a Connaught title which they haven’t won since 1975, but they were knocked out by Sunday’s beaten finalists Roscommon after a semi-final replay.

The Yeats County men were then surprisingly beaten by Clare on the qualifiers. Add to this the county’s 15-point drubbing by Mayo in the U21 championship and you have a situation where the last thing Sligo football needs is a difference of opinion about playing in a B championship.