Rebels ring the changes

There’s no complacency in Cork after their opening league win over Tipperary two weeks ago, manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy and his selectors ringing the changes and using the opportunity to try out several new faces and combinations.

The recent Fitzgibbon Cup activity took its toll on the Cork panel, UCC again going all the way, and three players who took a full part in the two games last weekend (semi-final and final) are rested here.

First the positional switches, with Lorcán McLoughlin going from midfield to centre-back, Christopher Joyce (who excelled at centre-back against Tipperary) moved to the wing. William Egan is the one to lose out here, rested after his heroics in UCC’s Fitzgibbon Cup win.

Up front, there’s a league debut for Kildorrery’s Peter O’Brien, inspirational in his side’s run to this year’s All-Ireland club junior final. O’Brien starts at full-forward, with Seamus Harnedy — yet another newcomer from the Tipperary win — lines out at left-half-forward. Luke O’Farrell and Conor Lehane are the two to lose out here, Lehane man-of-the-match for UCC in the Fitzgibbon Cup final win, O’Farrell on the losing Mary I team. Both are named among the subs, however, as is William Egan.

TIPPERARY (SH v Kilkenny): D Gleeson; P Stapleton, P Curran, M Cahill;P Maher, C O’Mahony, D Maher; A Ryan, B Maher; N McGrath, L Corbett, J O’Brien; J O’Dwyer, E Kelly, P Bourke.

LIMERICK (SH v Carlow): A Murphy; A Dempsey, R McCarthy, T Condon; C King, D O'Grady, G O'Mahony; P Brown, P O'Brien; D Hannon, S Hickey, D Breen; G Mulcahy, N Moran, S Tobin.