O'Gara named in Dublin team

Eoghan O'Gara did enough in a cameo run against Meath to convince Pat Gilroy he should start for Dublin in Saturday's All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Laois.

O'Gara replaced the injured Alan Brogan in the 29th minute of the Leinster final, making quite an impact as he set up Bernard Brogan for the opening goal and went on to score 0-2 from play.

This time the Templeogue Synge Street clubman comes in for Kevin McManamon who struggled to break free from Donal Keogan's clutches last time out.

Dubs boss Gilroy is obviously hoping that O'Gara, who starts at top of the left, can recapture the form that saw him score 1-5 against Laois during this year's Allianz League.

Alan Brogan has recovered in time from a groin injury to lead the reigning All-Ireland champions' attack, with his younger brother Bernard insisting that Laois will be no pushovers.

Gilroy's men will be huge favourites to advance to the last-four of the Championship despite Laois' momentum-building route through the qualifiers.

Writing in his latest Vodafone DubHub blog, Bernard Brogan insisted: "Most Dublin fans think it was good to avoid Kerry (in the quarter-finals), but I think Laois is the hardest draw we could have got.

"Playing Kerry would actually be easy in terms of preparation because there are no surprises there, just a massive challenge. But the fans already have this Laois match played in their heads and are looking down the track.

"As players we have to shut out all of that sort of loose talk because we know only too well how dangerous it can be."

DUBLIN (SFC v Laois): Stephen Cluxton; Michael Fitzsimons, Rory O'Carroll, Philly McMahon; James McCarthy, Kevin Nolan, Cian O'Sullivan; Eamonn Fennell, Denis Bastick; Paul Flynn, Alan Brogan, Bryan Cullen (capt); Bernard Brogan, Michael Darragh Macauley, Eoghan O'Gara.