O'Neill and Egan to start for Cork

Fit-again duo Shane O'Neill and William Egan will start in defence for Cork in Sunday's Allianz Hurling League Division 1A relegation play-off against Clare at the Gaelic Grounds (throw-in 3pm).

Kilian Murphy and Cian McCarthy drop back to the bench as O'Neill slots in at right corner back and Egan rejoins Stephen White and Christopher Joyce in the half-back line.

They are the only two changes made by manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy to the Rebels side that lost to Kilkenny two weeks ago.

Tom Kenny is back from his honeymoon and is listed among the substitutes as Cork look to preserve their top flight status for 2014.

However, selector Kieran Kingston is not happy with the situation that Cork find themselves in, needing a play-off victory to retain their place in Division 1A despite losing only two of their five league games.

Becoming the latest hurling figure to hit out at the current structure of the league, Kingston told the Irish Examiner: "There's no doubt that it isn't conducive to developing hurling generally, and I'm not saying that just because Cork are in a relegation final.

"I don't think it's fair to either Cork or Clare, given the campaign we both had, to find ourselves threatened with relegation. People will say whoever finished last has only themselves to blame but the format itself wasn't very fair to anyone.

"With the exception of 20 minutes in the second half against Clare when we were overwhelmed, we'd be very happy with how the league went for us overall.

"It was a good campaign, a very thin line between making the semi-final and being in a relegation final."

Such was the closeness between the six teams in Division 1A, Barry-Murphy's bottom-placed charges finished just a point behind third-ranked Galway who will be playing Kilkenny in a semi-final on Sunday week.

Kingston added: "We want to win (on Sunday) of course, we don't want to be in Division 1B next year, but the players know that.

"We just want them to go out and express themselves. It's games like this they're training for, games with something at stake.

"Our main target this year is June 23 (Munster SHC semi-final), but Sunday is also a very important game for us. We're developing, we need to be getting games against the top teams and you're not going to get that in every game in 1B."

CORK (NHL v Clare): Anthony Nash; Shane O'Neill, Brian Murphy, Conor O'Sullivan; Stephen White, Christopher Joyce, William Egan; Lorcán McLoughlin, Daniel Kearney; Conor Lehane, Paudie O'Sullivan, Pa Cronin; Stephen Moylan, Luke O'Farrell, Patrick Horgan.

Subs: Darren McCarthy, Kilian Murphy, Mark Ellis, Tom Kenny, Colm Spillane, Michael Walsh, Rob O'Shea, Cian McCarthy, Brian Hartnett, Cathal Naughton, Peter O'Brien.