Eamonn Breen has confirmed to the Kerry manager Paidi O Se that he will be returning from New York next week and will resume training with the panel in time for the county's next championship encounter - against Clare on June 20th.
Breen had announced his decision to leave the panel only two days ago, departing immediately for the United States and leaving a statement with the Kerry Board saying that he was withdrawing from the team "for personal reasons".
The reasons for his equally sudden U-turn and decision to return to training are not clear. It is understood that O Se contacted Breen in New York yesterday evening to discuss the player's return.
Earlier yesterday, O Se had said of Breen's departure for the US that: "It did come as a surprise to me, and I don't think anybody else really expected it either." Nonetheless he remained confident at that time that the player would return.
The 29 year-old left half back had played in Kerry's championship opener with Tipperary and was also part of the winning All-Ireland side of 1997.
In this weekend's championship action, Wicklow give championship debuts to Thomas Burke at left corner back and Adrian Foley directly in front of him, while Ciaran Shannon at left half forward, who came on as a substitute in the championship last year, now starts against Meath on Sunday. Not considered were Brendan Brady and Breandn O hAnnaidh, both of whom are injured. Unusually, Wicklow have named no fewer that 16 substitutes.
There is no more proud name in Wicklow football than that of Coffey so the appearance of three of that clan in Sunday's team for Croke Park is significant. At midfield Darren is picked to partner Fergal Daly while his brother, Ronan will line out at full forward. Back in the defence, meanwhile, is Mark who figures at right corner forward.
Darren and Ronan are sons of the renowned Moses Coffey, one of the best players ever to line out for the county, while Mark is his nephew. Wicklow supporters regard the fact that they are playing as a good omen.
Wicklow had a very good National League campaign this year beating Roscommon, Louth, Kilkenny, Antrim, London and Limerick and narrowly missed promotion after running Kerry close in their final match.
Louth introduce three newcomers to championship football in their team to face Dublin at Croke Park. They are left corner back Simon Gerrard, right half forward Sean O'Neill and right corner forward David Reilly. There is some surprise that Stefan White is not included in the starting line-up.
The centre forward position has, however, been left vacant for the moment although Colin Kelly is the most likely candidate. He is to have a fitness test later in the week on a hamstring problem and a number of players, including White, would be expected to come into the reckoning should he not be fully fit. In the London team which takes on the All-Ireland champions, Galway, in the Connacht championship in Ruislip the most interesting selection is that of Damien Deering at left half forward. He is the son of the late Shay Deering, the Irish rugby international, and a brother of Shane, who recently played in the Westmeath team which beat Kerry in the All-Ireland Under-21 final. Also included is an All-Ireland senior medal winner, Don Kelly, who was a substitute goalkeeper for Derry in 1993 and Conor Wilson, who played in an unsuccessful All-Ireland minor final with Armagh.
London have been deprived of many players during the last year. Many of their players have moved elsewhere, including back to Ireland, with the result that only five of the players beaten by Sligo in last year's championship are available on this occasion.
The capacity of Croke Park for the next three Sundays of the Leinster championship has been limited to 52,000. Work on the Canal End development is going ahead but extra accommodation will be available there for the Leinster finals in hurling and football and also for the All-Ireland semi-finals and finals.
Matches there from now on will be all-ticket affairs. Tickets will be available for the New Stand, the Hogan Stand and Hill 16 at Parnell Park today from 9.30 in the morning until 9.0 in the evening. Tickets will also be available at Parnell Park tomorrow (Friday) between 9.30 and 5.00. Tickets for both stands will cost £13, with £7 the charge for Hill 16 for the double bill. Tickets for Hill 16 have been distributed to the four counties involved - namely Meath, Wicklow, Dublin and Louth but a limited number of tickets returned to Croke Park will be on sale at Parnell Park.
Wicklow (SF v Meath): T Murphy; M Coffey, H Kenny, T Burke; B Whelan, B O'Donovan, A Foley; D Coffey, F Daly; D McMahon, K O'Brien, C Shannon; C Daye, R Coffey, T Doyle. Subs: R Daniels, R Doyle, G Wynne, S O'Neill, M Murtagh, T Gill, D Gordon, J Behan, B O hAnnaidh, O O hAnnaigh, J O'Keeffe, B Brady, C O'Sullivan. LONDON (SF v Galway): D Kelly; B McDonagh, P Rafter, F Doheny; C Wilson, D Gordon, B Bolger; T Murphy, J Gormley; T Feehan, T McGivern, D Deering; J Grimes, M Galvin, T Maguire.
Louth (SF v Dublin): N O'Donnell; G Phillips, G O'Neill, S Gerrard; N Malone, S Melia, A Hoey; S O'Hanlon, K Reilly; S O,Neill, A N Other, M Farelly; D Reilly, C O'Hanlon, A Doherty. Subs: C Nally, R Rooney, B Keenan, P McGinnity, C Kelly, O McDonnell, S White, A Rooney, J Clerkin.
