TYRONE WILL be unchanged for Sunday's All-Ireland football semi-final against Wexford in Croke Park. Unsurprisingly manager Mickey Harte sticks with the 15 who delivered an unexpected and emphatic performance in eliminating Leinster champions Dublin in the quarter-finals.
Colin Holmes continues at centrefield alongside Enda McGinley after making an unscheduled start in the quarter-final in place of Ryan Mellon and playing very well, as Tyrone survived early dominance by Dublin in the sector to turn things around in the second half. Owen Mulligan is again named on the bench and has yet to start a championship game this season.
The 2005 champions show eight changes from the side that lost to Wexford in the National League semi-final that same season.
Wexford show nine changes from that victory, as manager Jason Ryan names an unchanged side after the shock win over Armagh in the quarter-final. The selection shows positional switches with PJ Banville moving to the wing with Redmond Barry taking over at centre forward.
In their first All-Ireland semi-final for 63 years, Wexford have lost just one match this season, the Leinster final against Dublin.
Kerry named a team last night for their semi-final replay against Cork but speculation is that it is effectively a dummy selection. Before last week's drawn match Cork made two changes to their announced line-up and Kerry made one, bringing in Tommy Griffin in place of corner back Pádraig Reidy.
With centrefielder Darragh Ó Sé suspended, Kerry manager Pat O'Shea has announced his intention to reintroduce Reidy and bring Griffin to the middle to partner Seamus Scanlon.
Opinion in the county, however, believes that Eoin Brosnan could be brought in at centrefield and Griffin retained at full back where he was felt to have performed effectively on Cork's skyscraper full forward Michael Cussen.
It is felt unlikely Kerry, having struggled in the full-back line and especially against high ball, would risk reverting to the same unit that fared so badly against Cork, in the Munster final, and Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
Another option would be to bring in Daniel Bohane, who played so well on Galway's Joe Bergin, at full back but his fitness was an issue before the drawn match after he had picked up an injury.
Kerry have coped quite well in Ó Sé's absence in previous years. In 2004 injury kept him out of the All-Ireland final but William Kirby and Brosnan performed very well, albeit in a convincing win. A year ago Ó Sé missed most of the semi-final against Dublin but Griffin and Scanlon acquitted themselves convincingly in his absence.
Cork for their part were remaining tight-lipped about whether Donncha O'Connor's successful CHC hearing, which decided not to suspend him for last Sunday's red card, would make a difference to Conor Counihan's announced line-up.
Again speculation is that the team won't start as named and that O'Connor will slot back into the team in place of Kevin McMahon, who replaced him when it was believed he would be suspended. Nicholas Murphy is considered another likely starter, after his introduction as a replacement went well last week with Alan O'Connor the player likely to stand down.
Croke Park has announced the Dineen Hill 16 terrace, which was closed last weekend, is to be reopened in response to the demand for tickets for Sunday's senior double bill. Only 35,137 attended last week but that figure is expected to nearly double on Sunday.
TYRONE (SF v Wexford): J Devine; R McMenamin, Justin McMahon, C Gourley; D Harte, C Gormley, P Jordan; C Holmes, E McGinley; B Dooher, B McGuigan, Joe McMahon; T McGuigan, S Cavanagh, C McCullagh.
WEXFORD (SF v Tyrone): A Masterson; D Walsh, P Wallace, B Malone; A Morrissey, D Murphy, C Morris (capt); E Bradley, B Doyle; PJ Banville, R Barry, C Byrne; C Lyng, P Colfer, M Forde
KERRY (SF v Cork): D Murphy; M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan, P Reidy; T Ó Sé, A O'Mahony, K Young; T Griffin, S Scanlon; B Sheehan, C Cooper, D Walsh; Declan O'Sullivan, K Donaghy, T Walsh. Subs: K Cremin, E Brosnan, S O'Sullivan, Darren O'Sullivan, M Quirke, D Bohane, MF Russell, R Ó Flatharta, P O'Connor, K O'Leary, D Moran, A Maher, M Moloney, P Corridan, A O'Shea.
TYRONE (MF v Meath): T Harney; F McQuaid, G Teague, R Pickering; S McCrory, P Harte, K Mossey; N McKenna, M Rogers; C Girvan, D McNulty, M Donnelly; K Coney, P McNeice, C O'Neill.
