Five Championship debutants for Dubs

Pat Gilroy will give five players their Championship debuts when Dublin begin their title defence against Wexford in Sunday's Leinster SFC quarter-final at Croke Park (throw-in 4pm).

The bulk of the debutants are in defence, with Michael Fitzsimons, Philly McMahon and Cian O'Sullivan set for their first starts at this level.

Fitzsimons and McMahon line out at left and right corner back respectively, while O'Sullivan has been handed the centre-back role.

Meanwhile, Kilmacud Crokes clubman Niall Corkery will make his bow in the half-forward line, while St. Jude's ace Kevin McManamon debuts at left corner forward.

Corkery made his first competitive start in Dublin's 2-14 to 1-11 National League win over Tyrone, scoring a goal in the Omagh tie in April.

"Niall, since he has come in, is a strong, intelligent player," said Gilroy.

"I think he very much deserves his place. He joined us really late because of the Sigerson Cup. He didn't come in to us until March, but he has acquitted himself well for senior football."

Just seven players have been retained from the side which suffered a 17-point defeat to Kerry in last August's All-Ireland quarter-final.

Stephen Cluxton, David Henry, Denis Bastick, Barry Cahill, Paul Flynn, Bernard Brogan and Conal Keaney remain in the starting line-up from the Metropolitans' second successive All-Ireland quarter-final defeat.

This weekend will see Keaney starting for the Dubs for the first time this season, with Gilroy adding: "Basically the team has been picked on form and on what we have seen in our training sessions.

"The performances in the last two years didn't justify us going with the same approach.

"We brought in a lot of new players this year. They performed quite well in the league, but this is going to be a big test for them.

"There's a huge difference between league and Championship football, and we saw that borne out last weekend.

"There's just a world of a difference between what happens in the league, and what happens in Championship. Hopefully these guys will step up to the mark as they did in the league."

Gilroy says that his side are not getting ahead of themselves. There is a sixth sucessive Leinster title in the offing, but his players are just focusing on this weekend's game.

"Our intention is to try and go out and win every game. With such a new team we have to take it one step at a time, and our only focus since April 10 has been on the Wexford match," he added.

"That's it - we have looked no further than that. It's a big challenge for a lot of the fellas here, as it will be their first time to play at Croke Park for a number of them and we have to see how they get on with it."

Meanwhile, former Dublin captain Alan Brogan is set to start Sunday's match on the bench, having recovered from recent hamstring problems.

Dublin's injury list is a lot shorter than it was during their league campaign, with Ross O'Carroll suffering the longest stint on the sidelines as the Kilmacud Crokes player is ruled out for a month.

Paul Casey (hamstring) and Alan Hubbard (heel) are both ruled out of training for the next week, with Darren Magee absent for a fortnight due to a heel injury and Kevin Bonner sidelined for three weeks.

Gilroy is glad that Dublin's injury situation has eased somewhat from the long list of absentees at various stages during their league run.

"Realistically, at this stage, we are down to 36 guys who have been training with us," he explained.

"Due to injuries we had to have a couple of more players in to have 15-a-side in training.

"I think if the injury situation settled down, and a number of the injuries look like they aren't going to be as serious as we thought.

"Bryan Cullen's back injury - we thought he would be gone for the whole summer - the same with Ross O'Carroll and Darren Magee. They looked to have suffered injuries that could have been more longer term, but it doesn't look like it is now.

"If we are really sure of the three of those, then we could finalise our panel for the summer.

"But until that happens, it's important to be able to play 15-a-sides in training, so we have to keep an extended number around us for the moment."

DUBLIN (SFC v Wexford): S Cluxton; M Fitzsimons, Rory O'Carroll, P McMahon; D Bastick, C O'Sullivan, B Cahill; E Fennell, R McConnell; N Corkery, D Henry, P Flynn; C Keaney, B Brogan, K McManamon.