Cork appoint liaison officers to hurling and football teams

THE Cork County Board has appointed liaison officers to the senior hurling and football teams for the coming season.

This is in keeping with agreements reached between the players and the board during recent negotiations.

Vice chairman Mick Dolan will be involved will the hurlers, while development officer Bob Ryan has been appointed to the footballers.

As the behest of the two selection committees, a number of new recommendations will be in place for dealing with the media at the conclusion of inter-county matches this year.

There will be no entry to the dressing rooms for interviews. Instead, requests to speak to players and team officials are to be made through the liaison officer, who in turn will ensure those requested will be available to the media.

"This is being done to ensure that players get amble time to shower and dress, and allow the selectors to talk to players before meeting the media. At games in Cork, a room will be made available for such interviews," said county board chairman Jim Forbes.

Meanwhile, new Clare coach John Kennedy has made two changes from the team which defeated Limerick in the semi-final for Sunday's McGrath Cup final against Tipperary in Milltown-Malbay.

Dara Blake takes over from Kevin Nugent at left corner back while Michael O'Dwyer replaces John Enright. O'Dwyer's inclusion results in a number of positional switches in the forward line with only Alan Coghessy and Stephen Hickey holding the same positions from the Limerick semi-final.

Odran O'Dwyer moves from right corner to right half while Peadar McMahon has been switched from left corner to left half, with Michael O'Dwyer and Mark O'Connell moving into the corners.

Both Nugent and Enright are not injured. "It's just a case of giving Dara Blake and Michael O'Dwyer the opportunity to see what they can do," said Kennedy. Tipperary have no injury worries and with Declan Browne due back from the Allstars trip tomorrow, team coach Tom McGlinchey will pick from a full squad. Their team will be announced tonight.

Kildare have certainly rolled out the big guns for Sunday's O'Byrne Cup final against Longford in Longford.

After two games with GMIT in the Connacht FBD league Dermot Earley returns to midfield in place of Killian Brennan who picked up a shoulder injury against Dublin in the semi final.

Christy Byrne is recalled between the posts after almost a year on the bench. On Sunday he will be fronted by experienced full back Ronan Quinn, also making reappearance after a long lay-off.

Another of the '98 All-Ireland final crew Eddie McCormack, who came off the bench to score the winning point against the Dubs, is retained at right half forward as is his youthful namesake the unrelated Derek at top of the left. Longford await fitness reports on three players before naming their team.

Liam Keenan has a dead leg, Donal Ledwidth a hand injury and David Barden a hamstring problem. The latter two are the main concerns.

KILDARE (SF v Longford): Christy Byrne, Brian Lacey, Ronan Quinn, Eamann Callaghan, Padraig Mullarkey, Damien Hendy, Anthony Rainbow, Dermot Earley, Aidan McHugh, Eddie McCormack, John Doyle, Padraig Hurley, Tadhg Fennin, Terry Rossiter, Derek McCormack.

CLARE: (SF v Tipperary): D. O'Brien; C. Whelan, D. O'Sullivan, D. Blake; D. Heddington, N. Griffin, D. O'Driscoll; G. Quinlan, D. Russell; O. O'Dwyer, A. Cloghessy, P. McMahon; S. Hickey, M. O'Connell.