Roscommon unchanged for Cork clash

The 15 players who started for Roscommon in the recent Connacht final have kept their places for Sunday's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final duel with Cork.

There had been doubts about the fitness of goalkeeper Geoffrey Claffey (knee) and centre forward David O'Gara (back), but they look set to start the Croke Park encounter (throw-in 2pm).

Roscommon manager Fergal O'Donnell has kept faith with the side that secured the Nestor Cup with a 0-14 to 0-13 victory over Sligo.

He made four changes during that game, but Kevin Higgins, Colm Garvey, Jonathan Dunning and Paul Garvey have been kept in reserve once again.

Roscommon lost their two previous quarter-final matches, to Galway (2001) and Kerry (2003), and O'Donnell's current crop really have nothing to lose this weekend.

"If you told me at the start of the year that we'd be Connacht champions and be preparing for an All-Ireland quarter-final, I would have taken that," he told the Roscommon Herald.

"As I said after the Connacht final, we're in bonus territory now and we're looking forward to playing Cork. It's a great chance for the players to test themselves against a top side."

While admitting that it is 'a tough draw' for his side, O'Donnell says his charges are fully focused on putting in a big performance against the Rebels, having retured to training less than 24 hours after their memorable Connacht final win.

"We're Connacht champions and we didn't get there by chance. The team is coming along nicely," he added.

"You could argue that Limerick could have beaten Cork last weekend. People would give us a chance against Limerick.

"Of course it's a major ask but we must concentrate on our own game, just as we did in the Connacht final. We're in a no lose situation.

"It's a great situation to be in. No matter what happens at the weekend, we'll still be Connacht champions. No one can take that away from us."

ROSCOMMON (SFC v Cork): G Claffey; S McDermott, P Domican (capt), S Ormsby; S Purcell, C Dineen, D Casey; M Finneran, K Mannion; D Keenan, D O'Gara, C Cregg; J Rogers, D Shine, G Heneghan.