Tommy Walsh will next Sunday in Derry start his first match for Kerry since the All-Ireland final of 2009. After that victory over Cork, Walsh travelled to Australia and spent the next five years in the AFL with St Kilda and the Sydney Swans.
He came on as a replacement in last week's defeat by Mayo but impressed at centrefield, where he is named for Sunday along with his O'Rahilly's club-mate David Moran. Moved towards the end of the match into full forward, Walsh had to be brought off with a late leg injury, from which he has now recovered.
Walsh comes in for Kieran O’Leary with Bryan Sheehan switching to centre forward.
Opponents Derry show two changes from the side that fell away in the second half against Donegal in last weekend’s opening league fixture. Into the team come Ciarán McFaul and Terence O’Brien, who replaces Emmett McGuckin and Barry McGoldrick for Sunday’s first home match.
Tyrone also show two changes for the trip to Mayo after losing disastrously to Monaghan in Omagh five days ago. Mickey Harte’s team appeared to be cruising at 0-7 to 0-2 after the first 20 minutes but they lost the remainder of the match 1-11 to 0-2 on an evening when the floodlights also failed.
The expense
Peter Harte and Tiernan McCann come into the team at the expense of Barry Tierney and PJ Lavery.
Monaghan have named the same team that beat Tyrone for the visit of Cork whose manager Brian Cuthbert makes two changes to the side that beat Dublin last week. Conor Dorman and Paul Kerrigan come into the side, having appeared as replacements last week.
According to the Cork website Patrick Kelly, Daniel Goulding and Noel Galvin are back in training but were not considered for this game.
Meanwhile, the decision to call off tomorrow’s All-Ireland club hurling semi-final double bill in Thurles less than two days in advance has caused major disruption to the clubs involved, especially to Down and Ulster champions Portaferry.
“It’s a serious inconvenience,” was the response of club chair Brian McNally. “The travelling supporters had booked hotels and were due to travel down tomorrow (Friday). It’s a colossal loss to us. It will affect the players because they were mentally prepared for Thurles and now have to change at the last minute.”
None the less McNally accepted that there wasn’t much that could be done about the decision, caused by a part of the pitch at Semple Stadium being frozen. The problem had been given a number of days to resolve itself and, when it didn’t, the decision was taken to make the new arrangements.
Deferred coverage
Portaferry and Limerick’s Kilmallock will now meet in Mullingar’s Cusack Park tomorrow at two o’clock while Ballyhale Shamrocks and Gort will play at the same time in Tullamore’s O’Connor Park.
The move has also affected broadcaster TG4’s plans, which were to show the double bill live but now the Ballyhale-Gort match will go out at 2.0 but the Portaferry-Kilmallock semi-final will be shown on deferred coverage.
The Division Three fixture between Tipperary and Limerick, which was due to be played at Semple Stadium on Sunday, will now take place at 2.0 in Templetuohy.
KERRY (AFL v Derry): B Kealy; P Kilkenny, M Griffin, F Fitzgerald; J Lyne, J Sherwood, P Murphy; D Moran (capt.), T Walsh; M Geaney, B Sheehan, J Buckley; S O'Brien, P Geaney, BJ Keane. Subs: S Murphy, K O'Leary, P O'Connor, A Fitzgerald, J McGuire, S Enright, A Maher, K Young, D Walsh, P O'Connor, T Hickey, D Casey.
DERRY: T Mallon; O Duffy, N Holly, J O'Kane; K Johnston, G O'Kane, SL McGoldrick; M Lynch, C McAtamney; C McFaul, B Heron, E Lynn; M Craig, T O'Brien, D Heavron. Subs: E McNicholl, D Brown, L McGoldrick, C Murphy, N McNicholl, B McGoldrick, E Bradley, J Kearney, D McKinless, E McGuckin, S Brady, B McAlary.
TYRONE (AFL v Mayo): N Morgan; A McCrory, R McNamee, C McCarron; R McNabb, M Donnelly, P Harte; C Cavanagh, P McNulty; T Mccann, R O'Neill, P Hughes; D McCurry, S Cavanagh (capt.), N McKenna. Subs: M O'Neill, R Brennan, PJ Lavery, C McAliskey, D McBride, C McCann, S McGuigan, E McKenna, R McKenna, J McMahon, C McShane.
MONAGHAN (AFL v Cork): R Beggan; C Boyle, D Wylie, R Wylie; D Mone, F Kelly, K Duffy; N McAdam, D Clerkin; D Hughes, S Gollogly, R McAnespie; D Malone, D McKenna, K Hughes. Subs: E Duffy, J McCarron, P McGuigan, K O'Connell, V Corey, P Finlay, C McManus, P Donaghy, O Duffy, B McElroy, P Meegan.
CORK (AFL v Monaghan): K O'Halloran; Tomás Clancy, Tom Clancy, J Loughrey; C Dorman, E Cadogan, B O'Driscoll; F Goold, I Maguire; M Collins, D O'Connor, C O'Driscoll; C O'Neill, P Kerrigan. B Hurley. Subs: M Martin, J O'Sullivan, D Hazel, S O'Donoghue, M Cussen, D Hodnett, L Connelly, J Hayes, J O'Rourke, Barry O'Driscoll, K O'Driscoll.
