Waterford look to Moran for final date with Limerick

WATERFORD have made one change in defence from the side that defeated Cork for next Sunday’s Guinness Munster SHC final against Limerick at Semple Stadium, Thurles.

Kevin Moran from the De La Salle club replaces James Murray. Moran has been named at full back with Declan Prendergast moving to centre-back and Ken McGrath switching to left half back, the position occupied by Murray in the semi-final.

The Waterford team sees team captain Michael Walsh and Stephen Molumphy forming a new midfield partnership with Jack Kennedy moving to left corner forward.

Seamus Prendergast, who started at full-forward against Cork, is named at right half-forward with Eoin Kelly taking over the full-forward berth, while Paul Flynn is to wear the number 12 shirt.

The Erin’s Own defensive duo of Shane Murphy and Cian O’Connor have been drafted into the Cork team for tomorrow’s All-Ireland SHC qualifier against Offaly at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

They replace Brian Murphy and Shane O’Neill in the respective corner back positions.

Murphy took ill during last weekend’s victory over Dublin while O’Neill sustained an ankle injury.

Full-back Diarmuid O’Sullivan, who also picked up an ankle injury in that game has been passed fit to play but regular midfielder Tom Kenny and centre forward Niall McCarthy are still both injured.

Ben O’Connor takes over at centre-forward with team captain Kieran Murphy of Erin’s Own moving to right half forward.

Meanwhile Tipperary’s Benny Dunne believes Babs Keating isn’t insulting Dublin hurling by re-jigging his side for tomorrow’s hurling qualifier at Parnell Park.

The Toomevara player was making the point at yesterday’s ‘GAA Unrivalled’ press conference and said he believes that, having come through a gruelling recent schedule, it is time to use the strength of the panel.

“In fairness a lot of lads are tired after the last four weeks and Tipperary are playing Cork in the Munster U21 semi-final next Tuesday night. So we have quite a number of lads who are involved in that so they aren’t on for Saturday,” Dunne said. “We have freshened up the team and brought in some new members — guys who were on the fringes for the last couple of weeks getting their chance to stake a claim.”

Dublin veteran player Kevin Flynn believes that his side will have to improve considerably to beat teams like Tipperary.

“When you hear talk that Babs might be fielding a weakened side to give lads a break, Tommy Naughton must wish he could do that. We’ve been forced all year long to field weakened sides with injuries. That’s where the panel comes in.”

“In previous years we’d be going backwards when lads get injured, but I think we’ve shown now that the panel does have a bit more strength in depth.”

WATERFORD (SH v Limerick); C. Hennessy; A. Kearney, K. Moran, E. Murphy; T. Browne, D. Prendergast, K. McGrath; M. Walsh, S. Molumphy; S. Prendergast, D. Shanahan, P. Flynn; J. Mullane, E. Kelly, J. Kennedy.

CORK (SH v Offaly): D. Óg Cusack; S. Murphy, D. O’Sullivan, C. O’Connor; J. Gardiner, R. Curran, S. Óg Ó h-Ailpin; K. Hartnett, J. O’Connor; K. Murphy (Erin’s Own), B. O’Connor, P. Cronin; N. Ronan, K. Murphy (Sarsfields), J. Deane.

DONEGAL (SH v Leitrim): J Boyle; M McGrath, C Dowds, J McGee; J Donnelly, A Begley, C Goulding; G Dwyer, D Cullen; C Breathnach, P Hannigan, K Campbell; K Nolan, E Organ, N Campbell.