Westmeath have made two changes to the side that defeated Galway for tomorrow's All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin at Croke Park. David O'Shaughnessy, as expected, comes in at centrefield in place of David Duffy, and John Connellan is selected in place of James Durkan at right corner forward.
The 2004 Leinster champions field 11 of the team that defeated Dublin when the counties last met two years ago, whereas their opponents feature just three fewer, with eight surviving from the two-point defeat - the county's last within the province.
Westmeath county secretary and team selector Paddy Collins says the season really picked up in the qualifier against Limerick. "We had a tricky start against Offaly, which was a bit of a downer, but the last 20 minutes when we came back at Limerick was the turning point."
As well as lifting Laois manager Mick O'Dwyer's sideline ban, Wednesday's meeting of the Central Disciplinary Committee took the following decisions: Waterford footballer Karl O'Keefe and manager John Kiely were suspended for eight weeks from the date of the Tommy Murphy Cup match against Tipperary on July 22nd; Longford hurler Brendan Stakelum was suspended for 12 weeks from the date of the Rackard Cup semi-final against Donegal on July 30th; Meath minor Alan Nestor was exonerated following a review of his suspension imposed after the All-Ireland minor quarter-final against Antrim.
The Waterford Crystal-sponsored Munster Star awards have been released. Dual champions Cork are the best represented county in both selections, with the footballers perhaps surprisingly having one more award, seven, than the hurlers.
WESTMEATH(SFC v Dublin): G Connaughton; F O'Boyle, D Healy, J Keane; M Ennis, D O'Donovan, G Glennon; D O'Shaughnessy, P Bannon; A Mangan, D Glennon, D Heavin; J Connellan, G Dolan, D Dolan.
MUNSTER HURLING STARS: D Cusack (Cork); P Curran (Tipperary), T Feeney (Waterford), M Foley (Limerick); J Gardiner (Cork), R Curran (Cork), E Corcoran (Tipperary); T Kenny (Cork), J O'Connor (Cork); D Shanahan (Waterford), T Carmody (Clare), S McGrath (Tipperary); T Griffin (Clare), E Kelly (Tipperary), J Deane (Cork).
MUNSTER FOOTBALL STARS: A Quirke (Cork); M Prout (Cork), G Canty (Cork), M Ó Sé (Kerry); C Mullane (Limerick), G Spillane (Cork), A O'Mahony (Kerry); D Ó Sé (Kerry), N Murphy (Cork); S O'Brien (Cork), G Hurney (Waterford), D Russell (Clare); J Masters (Cork), K Donaghy (Kerry), D Browne (Tipperary).
