Cork make two changes as Coleman and Harnedy start for Clare championship opener

TEAM NEWS: Séamus Harnedy and Mark Coleman come into the starting XV for Cork. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane

Injury to Cormac O’Brien sees Mark Coleman reclaim the Cork No.7 shirt for the county’s Munster championship opener away to Clare.

Coleman’s return to the half-back line is one of two changes to the Cork team that comfortably overcame Tipperary in the League final two weeks ago, the other personnel switch seeing Seámus Harnedy come in for young Diarmuid Healy.

Coleman will make only his second start of 2025 at Cusack Park, while it will be a first start of the year for 34-year-old Harnedy. The All-Star half-forward was a used sub in Cork’s League opener against Wexford, but a subsequent thumb injury meant he did not feature again until introduced during the second half of the Round 7 win over Galway two months later.

The promoted pair were the first two subs in during the aforementioned League final victory.

Pat Ryan’s selection shows just one change to the team that began last year’s All-Ireland final extra-time defeat against this weekend’s opponents. Ethan Twomey, at midfield, is the new face in, Declan Dalton losing out. It’s a first championship start for Twomey since the Munster round-robin win over Tipp last May.

CORK (Munster SHC v Clare): P Collins; N O’Leary, E Downey, S O’Donoghue; C Joyce, R Downey, M Coleman; T O’Mahony, E Twomey; S Harnedy, D Fitzgibbon, S Barrett; P Horgan, A Connolly, B Hayes.

Subs: B Saunderson, E Roche, D Cahalane, G Millerick, T O’Connell, L Meade, B Roche, D Healy, R O’Flynn, D Dalton, S Kingston.

DUBLIN ( Leinster SHC v Offaly): E Gibbons; J Bellew, P Smyth, D Lucey; P Doyle, C Crummey, A Dunphy; C Burke, C Donohoe; B Hayes, D Burke, F Whitely; S Currie, C O’Sullivan, AJ Murphy.

GALWAY (Connacht SFC v Roscommon): C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Fitzgerald, J Glynn; D McHugh, S Kelly, L Silke; P Conroy, J Maher; M Tierney, C McDaid, C Darcy; M Thompson, R Finnerty, F Ó Laoí.