TEAM NEWS:COLM COOPER will make his first appearance in a Kerry shirt this year in Sunday's Allianz Football League Division One clash against Mayo in Tralee.
The Dr Crokes forward, whose side were beaten by Crossmaglen Rangers in the All-Ireland club senior football semi-final in February, is among seven changes by Jack O’Connor.
Goalkeeper Brian Kelly, defenders Brian McGuire and Peter Crowley, midfielders Anthony Maher and Keiran Donaghy, and forwards David O’Callaghan and Cooper all come into the side.
The top four teams in Division One will qualify for the semi-final stage and O’Connor has the luxury of making so many changes as Kerry (with 10 league points) are the only county to have already secured their spot in the knockout round.
Behind them, Cork have seven points, with Mayo, Dublin and Down all on six points.
Conor Counihan has made three changes to his Cork side for Sunday’s crucial final round clash with Dublin at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Ken O’Halloran takes over between the posts from Alan Quirke, who played in the one-point victory over Mayo in Castlebar two weeks ago.
Graham Canty has recovered from the injury that kept him out of that game and starts at centre back, with Seán Kiely losing out, and Paul Kerrigan is at centre forward in place of Mark Collins, who is serving a one-match ban following his red card against Mayo.
Tyrone have already secured their promotion to Division One, but Mickey Harte has still picked a strong side for Sunday’s meeting with Monaghan.
PJ Quinn has completed a one-match suspension, and returns at corner back in place of Conor Gormley. Midfielder Mickey Murphy is also back, taking over from Aidan Cassidy, and up front, Owen Mulligan returns, with Niall McKenna dropping to the bench.
Goalkeeper rotation continues, with Pascal McConnell entrusted with the task of keeping a seventh consecutive clean sheets.
There’s a further boost with Tommy McGuigan’s return to the bench following a lengthy absence due to a knee injury.
Seánie Johnston is expected to hear early next week whether his second transfer request from Cavan to Kildare has proved successful.
The central competitions control committee rejected Johnston’s initial attempt to switch from Cavan Gaels to St Kevin’s, stating insufficient proof that his permanent residence was in Straffan.
“I’ve resubmitted my transfer request, and obviously I’m very hopeful now that it will be approved,” Johnston said last week. “I believe that what I previously provided was a lot more information than most others do in seeking an intercounty transfer, but it was considered to be not enough at the time.
“So I’ve now resubmitted it with all the information that Croke Park said was required for me to submit, so hopefully it will be approved.”
Meanwhile, the dispute in Louth GAA over the payment of mileage expenses to players has been resolved. A number of footballers on the senior intercounty panel made their feelings known via Twitter this week but following a meeting with county board officials yesterday the issue was diluted.
“Glad to hear the small issue regarding player expenses has been resolved and lads are fully focused and looking forward to Sunday,” said Darren Clarke.
Mark Brennan, who was also critical of the non-payment to three players, tweeted: “Bout (sic) time but all sorted now, bring on the Meath boys.”
Louth must beat Meath in Navan on Sunday to avoid relegation from Division Two.
KERRY(SF v Mayo): B Kelly; S Enright, K Young, B McGuire; P Crowley, E Brosnan, J Lyne; A Maher, K Donaghy; D O'Callaghan, BJ Keane, J Buckley; C Cooper, P Curtin, K O'Leary.
CORK(SF v Dublin): K O'Halloran; Ray Carey, M Shields, E Cotter; N O'Leary, G Canty, P Kissane; A O'Connor, P O'Neill; F Goold, P Kerrigan, P Kelly; C O'Neill, A Walsh, D O'Connor.
TYRONE(SF v Monaghan): P McConnell; A McCrory, Justin McMahon, PJ Quinn; C McCarron, P Harte, R McMenamin; M Murphy, C Cavanagh; R McNabb, Mark Donnelly, S Cavanagh; K Coney, S O'Neill, O Mulligan.
