Dempsey hands five debuts for Louth tie

CARLOW manager Luke Dempsey has handed out five championship debuts for next Sunday’s Leinster SFC quarter-final against Louth.

Trevor O’Reilly gets the nod in goal while right corner-back Aidan Murphy, full-back Conor Lawlor and left half-back Kieran Nolan are the defensive newcomers.

The final debutant is Ed Finnegan who will start at left half-forward. The Carlow team, which is captained by Tinryland’s Shane Redmond from centre-back.

Leitrim boss Mickey Moran has kept faith with the side that defeated Sligo in the provincial quarter-final for next Sunday’s Connacht SFC semi-final tie against Roscommon. For his part Roscommon boss Fergal O’Donnell has also named an unchanged 15 from the team that beat New York in their opening clash. That means Niall Carty, Donal Ward and Senan O’Grady will be making their first championship starts on Irish soil in this game.

In all, Roscommon have only seven survivors from the starting 15 that helped them claim honours in last July’s Connacht final, in goalkeeper Geoffrey Claffey, defenders Sean McDermott, Peter Domican and David Keenan, midfielder pairing Michael Finneran and Karol Mannion, and attackers Donal Shine and Cathal Cregg.

Meanwhile the McMahon brothers gave Tyrone a boost last night by returning to action with their club.

Joe and Justin both played the full hour for Omagh in their Division One league defeat against Carrickmore. Joe, who suffered a double fracture of his jaw in a club game a few weeks ago, played at midfield, while Justin, back after a hamstring injury, played centre-back.

They both missed last weekend’s Ulster SFC win over Monaghan, but are in the frame for a semi-final recall.

CARLOW (SF v Louth): T O’Reilly; A Murphy, C Lawlor, B Kavanagh; P Cashin, S Redmond, K Nolan; B Murphy, D Foley; P Hickey, T Walsh, E Finnegan; B Murphy, S Gannon, D St Ledger. Subs: J Clarke, A Curran, C Mullins, E Ruth, G Nolan, J Murphy, JP Moore, P Murphy, P McElligott, T Bolger, W Minchin.

ROSCOMMON (SF v Leitrim): G Claffey; S McDermott, P Domican, N Carty; I Kilbride, D Keenan, D Ward; M Finneran, K Mannion; S O’Grady, K Higgins, C Cregg; C Devanney, S Kilbride, D Shine. Subs: M Miley, S Ormsby, J McKeague, S O’Neill, G Heneghan, J Rogers, P Garvey, N Daly, E Kenny, D McDermott, S Purcell.

LEITRIM (SF v Roscommon): C McCrann; D Reynolds, R Gallagher, P Maguire; B Prior, G Reynolds, W McKeon; T Beirne, D Lowe; P Brennan, E Mulligan, R Lowe; A Croal, C Beirne, J Glancy.