Kerry make five changes

Defending champions Kerry have been forced to make five changes for Sunday's NFL Division 1A encounter with Limerick at Fitzgerald Stadium, throw-in 2.30pm.

The Kingdom have been hit with a series of injuries ahead of the game with defender Killian Young's the most significant.

The 20-year-old Renard man has torn his ankle ligaments and is facing a long road to recovery - he is expected to miss the remainder of the National League.

There is better news for manager Pat O'Shea regarding the injuries to Bryan Sheehan and Tomas O'Se - both players are fit enough to be included on the bench, with captain and free-taker Sheehan's knee injury not as serious as first feared.

For the weekend, Mossie Lyons, Brendan Guiney and Ronan Hussey have stepped in to replace Young, O'Se and Sheehan respectively.

Despite it being his first league start, Hussey will skipper his county on Sunday, as he was a member of the South Kerry side that won last year's Kerry SFC title.

With Kieran Donaghy serving a suspension, Seamus Scanlon will start at full-forward on Sunday, with the fifth change seeing Ronan O Flatharta start at left half-back in place of Padraig Reidy.

Kerry are also missing some considerable strike power for Sunday's clash - Dr Crokes duo Colm Cooper and Eoin Brosnan are busying preparing for next week's All-Ireland club final, while Sean O'Sullivan (quad muscle) and Darren O'Sullivan (broken hand) are ruled out with injuries and Paul Galvin and Declan O'Sullivan are both currently away in Australia.

KERRY (NFL v Limerick) - D Murphy; M O'Se, T O'Sullivan, M Lyons; B Guiney, A O'Mahony, R O Flatharta; D O'Se, T Griffin; R Hussey (capt), E Fitzmaurice, D Walsh; D Quill, S Scanlon, MF Russell.