THE TEMPTATION must have been to stick with a winning formula but Sligo have made just one minor adjustment for Sunday’s Connacht senior football final showdown against Mayo at Dr Hyde Park.
Veteran midfielder Tony Taylor returns to the starting line-up in place of Eugene Mullen in the only switch from the team that fairly stunned Galway on their home turf in the Connacht semi-final early last month – winning out 2-14 to 0-15.
Taylor in fact replaced Mullen after 45 minutes of that semi-final, and played a key role in sustaining Sligo’s drive towards the unexpected win, and loosen Galway’s favourites tag.
Otherwise manager Kevin Walsh, himself a winner of five Connacht titles with Galway, has kept faith with the men that set up Sligo’s third final appearance in five years.
The GAA’s Player of the Month for June, Adrian Marren is named at full forward, alongside David Kelly.
Mayo, however, will once again start as favourites as they look to win back-to-back Nestor Cups for the first time since 1996-97, when their manager James Horan was involved as a player.
The counties last met in the championship two years ago when Sligo won a first-round Connacht tie by four points.
Elsewhere, the Seánie Johnston saga continues ahead of Kildare’s All-Ireland football qualifier against Cavan at Breffni Park on Sunday as manager Kieran McGeeney has decided not to include his recent transferee in his starting 15.
Johnston did sustain a minor shoulder injury during training last week, but took a full part in Kildare’s session on Tuesday night: it means that the 27-year-old is still set to play at least some part against the side he captained last year, before being dropped from the panel.
McGeeney was able to choose from a full squad as Kildare look to bounce back from their poor Leinster semi-final performance against Meath almost a fortnight ago, and has settled on two changes in personnel on top of several positional switches.
Aindriú MacLochlainn comes in to the side as an indirect replacement for Ollie Lyons in the defence, while Robert Kelly is also named at midfield in place of Pádraig O’Neill.
MacLochlainn’s inclusion means Hugh McGrillen moves to left-half back, while Emmet Bolton reverts from midfield to right half back.
With Kelly joining Daryl Flynn at midfield, Alan Smith moves up to the left-half forward position.
Laois manager Justin McNulty has given Billy Sheehan back his starting place for their football qualifier encounter against Monaghan at O’Moore Park, also on Sunday.
The former Kerry underage star missed the Laois win over Carlow two weeks ago, but his return to the forward line sees Colm Begley revert to midfield to partner Brendan Quigley.
John O’Loughlin drops back to centre back, and team captain Kevin Meaney goes to full back, with Kevin Lillis the player to miss out on this occasion.
SLIGO (SF v Mayo):P Greene; N Ewing, J Martyn, R Donovan; C Harrison, M Quinn, P McGovern; S McManus, T Taylor; A Costello, P Hughes, B Egan; M Breheny, A Marren, D Kelly.
KILDARE (SF v Cavan):S Connolly; A MacLochlainn, M Foley, P Kelly; E Bolton, M O'Flaherty, H McGrillen; D Flynn, R Kelly; E O'Flaherty, M Conway, A Smith; J Doyle (captain), T O'Connor, J Kavanagh.
LAOIS (SF v Monaghan):E Culliton; C Healy, K Meaney, J Kavanagh, D Strong, J O'Loughlin, C Boyle; B Quigley, C Begley; D O'Connor, B Sheehan, G Walsh; R Munnelly, P Clancy, C Kelly.
