Waterford forced into changes for title opener

INJURIES and suspensions have forced the Waterford selectors to make a number of positional changes for their Munster SHC game against Kerry at Walsh Park on Sunday.

Declan Prendergast makes his championship debut at corner-back, becoming only the second man from Ardmore to represent the county. The first was brother Seamus, who returns after an injury nightmare to start at full-foward.

The Munster champions will be without Eoin McGrath, Dan Shanahan, Eoin Murphy and the suspended John Mullane.

Fergal Hartley, despite concerns about a knee injury, is again named at centre-back, while Tony Browne and James Murray renew a midfield partnership that has been chopped and changed throughout the league campaign.

Opponents Kerry have named a new midfield partnership and have come up with a completely new full- forward division from the side that lost last Monday’s Allianz National Hurling League Division Two final to Antrim.

Charlie Flaherty and Alan Cronin now take over the midfield berths. Michael Slattery moves to right half- forward with Sean Brick, Ger O’Brien and JM Dooly filling the full forward roles.

Meanwhile, All-star Oisin McConville, is confident of being sprung from the bench should things happen to go wrong for Armagh in the first defence of their Ulster and All-Ireland senior football championship titles against Monaghan at Clones on

Sunday.

McConville is recovering from a hamstring injury and manager Joe Kernan decided not to risk him from the start but has included him in the substitutes panel instead.

“I am not 100% match-fit at present but I am getting there, and if called upon on Sunday I would like to think I could make a contribution, said McConville yesterday.

“It is very disappointing having to sit out the start and I know I will be a bundle of nerves because we are expecting an almighty challenge from Monaghan,” he added.

McConville revealed that Armagh will not be resting on their laurels. He said: “It was fantastic to win the All-Ireland and we feel there is no reason why we cannot win back-to-back titles because of the talent we have in the side, but we are under no illusions whatsoever that it will be much harder to scale the summit this year than it was last season because everyone will be gunning for us now.”

Laois will not finalise their team to play Wexford in the Leinster championship at Croke Park on Sunday until corner-forward Tom Kelly undergoes a fitness test on his injured ankle on Saturday morning.

Kelly sustained the injury in last weekend’s defeat by Tyrone in the

Allianz NFL final, and if he is deemed fit to play the Laois team will be the same as that which lined out for the pennant decider.

Wexford are still awaiting news from Croke Park concerning the fate of their right corner Colm Morris who was red-carded in the league semi-final with Limerick, and as a consequence will not name their team until word reaches them from headquarters.

Wexford was informed yesterday by GAC secretary Sean O’Laoighre that they were trying to contact the umpire nearest to the scene of the incident which led to Morris’s dismissal.

However, Wexford will be without defender Thomas Howlin, who has a damaged cruciate ligament, and team captain John Hudson ruled out with a calf injury.

The Cork junior team to play Limerick in the Munster championship is interesting in that Brian Morgan has been named in goal. Because he did not participate in senior club football championship in 2002 he is eligible to play and is following in the footsteps of his father Billy who was Cork’s senior net-minder for over 20 years.

Meanwhile, Tipperary full-back Philip Maher, who twisted his knee in the league final defeat to Kilkenny, is to undergo a scan later today.

The procedure was to have been carried out yesterday but did not occur due to technical difficulties with the machine.

WATERFORD SH v Kerry: Brenner; B Flannery, T Feeney, D Prendergast; B Greene, F Hartley, P Queally; T Browne, J Murray; A Moloney, K McGrath, E Kelly; P Flynn, S Prendergast, D Bennett. Subs: N Kelly, E McGrath, D Shanahan, M Walsh, N Power, P Fitzgerald, A Kirwan, J Kennedy, D O’Brien, P O’Brien, C Watt, S Walsh, B Phelan, D Murphy.

KERRY (SH v Waterford): J Healy; HF Twomey, M Lucid, I Brick; WJ Leen, J McCarthy, (capt), K O’Sullivan; C Flaherty, A Cronin; M Slattery, B Brick, P O’Connell; S Brick, G O’Brien, JM Dooley.

ARMAGH (SF v Monaghan): P Hearty; A Mallon, J McNulty, F Bellew; A O’Rourke, K McGeeney, A McCann; J Toal, P McGrane; P McKeever, J McEntee, T McEntee; S McDonnell, B O’Hagan, D Marsden.

CORK (JF v Limerick): Brian Morgan; D Duggan, D Wiseman, J Honohan; M Prout (Shamrocks), G Spillane, E Wiseman; M Kelleher, S O’Sullivan; K Murphy, B Coleman, K Daly; C Brosnan, L Dennehy, K O’Sullivan.

LIMERICK (JF v Cork): J Kiely, D Bourke, D Dineen, A O’Rahilly; D Stapleton, T McLoughlin, D Galvin; B Slattery, D Horan; A Kitson, D Phelan, G Egan; M Culhane, T Kilroy, K Hartnett.