Ireland manager Brian McEniff has made three changes to the team that started against Australia in Melbourne last week ahead of this Friday’s deciding International Rules test in Adelaide.
Armagh’s Kieran McGeeney, scorer of Ireland’s second goal, will start the game, as do Brendan Devenney of Donegal and Cork’s Graham Canty.
Out from the starting 15 go Sligo's Eamon O’Hara, Galway marksman Padraig Joyce and Kerry’s Johnny Crowley. All three, however, are sure to feature as interchange players.
With key players missing through injury, McEniff has been forced to reshuffle his eight interchange players and has delayed naming them until after tomorrow night’s training session.
Dublin midfielder Ciaran Whelan is definitely out of Friday’s game. His injured hamstring failed to recover in time despite intense treatment. Dermot McCabe (ankle) will also miss the game while Niall Buckley (hamstring) was ruled out yesterday.
While McCabe missed the opening game altogether, neither Whelan nor Buckley started at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. It is unlikely that either player would have made the starting lineup for the forthcoming test had they been fit. Both players, however, would have played an important role as interchange players.
Coman Goggins (Dublin), Francie Grehan (Roscommon) and Brendan Ger O’Sullivan (Cork), dropped from the squad for the Melbourne game, are also in contention for an interchange position.
The Ireland manager hinted yesterday that the three would feature at some stage on Friday. In light of the injury crisis, however, it is expected that the trio will play a more significant role than had been expected.
"I’m delighted with their progress," said McEniff. "They stayed on for extra training (yesterday) with John O’Keefe as they didn’t feature in last week’s win."
IRELAND:C. Sullivan (Meath); G Canty (Cork); D Fay (Meath); SM Lockhart (Derry); A Rainbow (Kildare); K McGeeney (Armagh); S Og de Paor (Galway); S Moynihan (Kerry); D O'Se (Kerry); D Earley (Kildare); M Donnellan (Galway); T Kennelly (Kerry & Sydney); G Geraghty (Meath); A Tohill (Derry); B Devenney (Donegal).