Kerry wait on star men as Cork go same again

THEY may have been impossible to separate last Sunday, but Cork and Kerry have enjoyed very different fortunes this week with Jack O’Connor forced to delay naming his starting 15 until hours before Sunday’s game.

The Kingdom manager has been forced to hold off on his selection until the day of the replay in Páirc Uí Chaoimh due to injury concerns over a number of his key players.

Serious doubts persist over the fitness of Marc O Sé (shoulder), Mike McCarthy (Achilles) although the news on Paul Galvin (tonsillitis/ankle), Tommy Griffin (ankle) and Micheal Quirke (eye) has been more encouraging.

Conor Counihan has had to endure no such worries. The Cork manager named his side yesterday and it was, as expected, unchanged from that which took the throw-in in Killarney last weekend.

Cork will again have players of the calibre of Eoin Cadogan, John Miskella, Fintan Goold and Colm O’Neill in reserve for the Munster semi-final replay, although Anthony Lynch and Nicholas Murphy continue to play no part due to injury.

The most significant personnel news to emerge yesterday came late last night when Matty Forde was named in a Wexford side for the first time since 2008 after a chronic back problem. They face Dublin on Sunday.

The former Footballer of the Year has missed his county’s last two league campaigns and the 2009 championship but appears in a dangerous full-forward line alongside Ciaran Lyng and PJ Banville.

Manager Jason Ryan has handed championship debuts to Joey Wadding (St Fintan’s) and Daithí Waters (St Martin’s). The pair will start at corner-back and midfield respectively.

There was something of a shock from Laois, who neglected to name Michael John Tierney in the first 15 when the teamsheet was released early yesterday morning.

It is only three years since Tierney was shortlisted for the Vodafone Young Footballer of the Year award alongside the Kerry duo of Padraig Reidy and Killian Young.

The Ballyroan Abbey forward has however been in poor form of late. The versatile John O’Loughlin is another notable absentee, although he has been held back by injuries in recent weeks. Manager Sean Dempsey has opted to draft Portlaoise’s Paul Cahillane in as one corner-forward – Ross Munnelly has been named in the other – after the former Celtic player’s key role for the club in their run to an All-Ireland semi-final.

Colm Begley will start at wing-back in what will be his first championship appearance since his days as a professional in the AFL while there is no place for Padraig Clancy, who recently returned to the squad.

Fermanagh manager Malachy O’Rourke has drafted in three championship newcomers for the team to face Cavan in the last of the Ulster quarter-finals at Breffni Park on Saturday evening.

Corner-back Barry Mulrone, wing-back Daniel Ward and corner-forward Chris O’Brien are the rookies in question while former All-Star Marty McGrath returns to midfield to partner captain James Sherry.

In hurling news, corner-forward Aidan Harte is a major doubt for Galway ahead of Sunday week’s Leinster semi-final against Offaly.

Harte, who made his championship debut in the quarter-final win over Wexford, suffered a hip injury playing for Gort in the Galway SHC at the weekend and has been slow to respond to treatment.

The young Gort attacker is doubtful and was the primary concern at the top of a lengthy injury list. Galway are already without suspended wing-forward Andy Smith, while attacker Kevin Hayes (hamstring) and defender Conor Dervan (broken thumb) are also ruled out.

Midfielder Ger Farragher, centre-back Tony Óg Regan, corner-back Damien Joyce, and forwards Damien Hayes and his brother Niall are all nursing injuries but are expected to recover in time for the Croke Park showdown.

Meanwhile, the Leinster Council has confirmed that their provincial junior football final between Louth and Cavan (playing under invitation) has been dropped from the Croke Park bill on Sunday, June 27.

The game was due to go ahead prior to the two senior semi-finals but has now been put back to the following Wednesday, at a venue yet to be decided for a number of reasons.

For a start, a number of the Louth junior footballers are members of their senior panel who play later that day while the management team for both squads is the same.

There is also the possible inconvenience to Louth supporters of their county playing games at 2.15pm and 5.50pm while Cavan’s minors – and possibly seniors – are also involved in championship on June 27.

CORK (SF v Kerry): A Quirke; R Carey, G Canty, J O’Sullivan, N O’Leary, M Shields, P Kissane, A O’Connor, A Walsh, P O’Neill, D O’Connor, P Kelly, D Goulding, C Sheehan, P Kerrigan.

WEXFORD (SF v Dublin): A Masterson; J Wadding, G Molloy, B Malone; C Morris, D Murphy, A Doyle; D Waters, E Bradley; S Roche, R Barry, A Flynn; C Lyng, PJ Banville, M Forde.

LAOIS (SF v Meath): M Nolan; P O’Leary, M Timmons, P McMahon; C Healy, C Ryan, C Begley; B Quigley, K Meaney; B Sheehan, C Rogers, D Strong; P Cahillane, D Kingston, R Munnelly.

FERMANAGH (SF v Fermanagh): Ronan Gallagher; N Bogue, S Lyons, B Mulrone; D Ward, R McCluskey, T McElroy; J Sherry, M McGrath; D Keenan, R Carson, M Little; P Ward, Rory Gallagher, C O’Brien.