Kerry captain to start against Mayo

Kerry’s captain for 2006, Declan O’Sullivan, has be restored to the Kingdom’s starting line-up for Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC final against Mayo at Croke Park (throw-in 3.30pm).

The 22-year-old O’Sullivan, who, like manager Jack O’Connor, hails from the Dromid Pearses club, has replaced Eoin Brosnan in the side as Kerry bid for their second All-Ireland title in three seasons.

O’Sullivan is a straight swap for Eoin Brosnan at centre forward. Brosnan was the only one of Kerry’s starting forwards not to score from play during the 0-16 to 0-10 semi-final defeat of Cork.

O’Sullivan replaced Brosnan after 44 minutes of the Cork game, and managed to fire over a point.

O’Connor’s charges, who will have their championship top scorer Bryan Sheehan on the bench, are bidding to claim Kerry’s 34th Sam Maguire Cup.

Sunday’s clash is a repeat of the 2004 decider, which Kerry won by eight points, and the fourth All-Ireland final meeting between the two counties since 1932. The Munster men won all three previous meetings in finals.

KERRY (SFC v Mayo): D Murphy; M Ó Sé, M McCarthy, T O’Sullivan; T Ó Sé, S Moynihan, A O’Mahony; D Ó Sé, T Griffin; S O’Sullivan, Declan O’Sullivan (capt.), P Galvin; C Cooper, K Donaghy, MF Russell.

Substitutes: K Cremin, E Brosnan, Darren O’Sullivan, E Fitzmaurice, B Sheehan, M Lyons, B Guiney, R O’Connor, P Reidy, P O’Connor, K Young, R Hussey, K O’Leary, A MacGearailt, A O’Connell.