Kildare, Meath tussle for semi spot

The clash of Kildare and Meath is the tie of the round as the O'Byrne Cup quarter-finals are down for decision today.

Graham Geraghty returns for the Royals, for his first start in 18 months following a six-month suspension.

Meanwhile, Anthony Rainbow will miss the clash at Newbridge as the defender is on honeymoon.

Rainbow, who was included in the starting line-up for the Lilywhites' first round win over Dundalk IT, has been replaced by Karl Ennis.

Luke Dempsey faces up to his past today as his Longford side take on Westmeath, the county Dempsey left 17 months ago.

However, Dempsey has played down any talk of him going all-out to get one over on his former charges.

Carlow-born Dempsey spent eight years at various levels with Westmeath up until 2003, but after the championship a vote of no confidence in him was tabled and then reversed by the players.

The county board then made the decision to tender for the manager's post.

Dempsey ended up stepping down, Páidí O Sé took over and brought the Leinster championship to the county for the first time ever in 2004.

The sides meet in Longford at 2pm.

Meanwhile, Mick O'Dwyer's Laois side travel to Kilkenny in a bid to book a semi-final place.

The Kerry native is without Derek Conroy, who suffered a recurrence of an ankle injury last week, while the Portlaoise contingent will also be missing for the encounter.

KILDARE (SF v Meath): E Murphy; D Hendy, P Mullarkey, A McLoughlin; E Callaghan, M Foley, K Ennis; W Heffernan, K Brennan; M O’Sullivan, J Doyle, D McCormack; P Donnelly, R Sweeney, T Fennin.