Sport

Quinn's move is most surprising Clare change

All-Ireland champions Clare have named an unusual side to open their National Hurling League campaign against Antrim in Ennis…

By SEAN MORAN
Wed Mar 04 1998 - 00:00

All-Ireland champions Clare have named an unusual side to open their National Hurling League campaign against Antrim in Ennis this weekend.

Most surprising is the deployment of Brian Quinn, the dependable cover at corner back in recent years, at full forward. The team is weakened by the absence of Clarecastle players and All Star wing back Liam Doyle who marries Sinead O'Brien on Saturday.

Clarecastle's contingent, Anthony Daly, Fergie Tuohy and Ger O'Loughlin, are rested following their big disappointment in last Saturday's All-Ireland club semi-final replay against Birr.

Compared to the All-Ireland final side, into the team come Richard Woods, full back on UCC's winning Fitzgibbon Cup side in 1996, at corner back, Christy Chaplin, Quinn, David Forde and Fergal Hegarty who appeared as substitutes last September and Alan Markham, who scored 3-2 in a recent tournament match against Waterford.

READ MORE

Clare's predecessors as All-Ireland champions, Wexford, give league debuts to Donal Berry, an impressive full back on the county's under-21s last year and son of Leinster Council chairman Jim, and James Purcell from Duffry Rovers who will partner Adrian Fenlon at centre-field.

Further up the pitch, veteran 'super-sub' Billy Byrne, who scored some valuable goals in the county's march over the last two years, is started at full forward for Wexford's Division One B opener against Laois.

Jimmy Barry-Murphy expresses himself happy with the team for Cork's first match at home to Kilkenny. 'There was no one unavailable and no injuries,' according to the Cork manager. There are no debutantes on the team but Mark Landers is recalled at right wing back after a couple of seasons' absence.

John Browne is named at full back. A brother of full forward Alan and former All-Ireland winner Richard, Browne has switched between the corner and full back positions in recent matches although many people anticipated that Diarmuid O'Sullivan, outstanding on the square for last year's victorious under-21s, would move into the seniors' number three jersey.

Both of UCC's strike forwards, Joe Deane and Sean McGrath, are included on the left flank of the attack while Pat Ryan, the form midfielder in the county, makes up the middle partnership with Mick Daly.

New Kilkenny manager Kevin Fennelly and his selectors have made wholesale changes, and there are only six survivors from the team that flopped against Limerick in the league semi-final last August.

Usual midfielder Philip Larkin has been chosen at full back and he will be flanked on his left by Michael Kavanagh, a minor star of last year. Waterford have recalled Billy O'Sullivan, Peter Queally, Paul Flynn and Mark O'Sullivan for their clash with Tipperary at Thurles. All four missed last Sunday's tournament game with Clare at Newport and replace John Meaney, Gavin Breen, James O'Connor and Tony Carroll.

Derek McGrath, who featured at corner forward in the Oireachtas and South East league competitions, has a broken bone in his hand and will be out of action for a number of weeks. The selectors have renewed the centre-field partnership of Tony Browne and Gary Gater, both of whom excelled there in the South East league final win over Cork. Mark O'Sullivan returns after contributing handsomely to UCC's Fitzgibbon Cup win last weekend.

The fate of Charlie Redmond, of Erin's Isle, and Sarsfields' hurlers Donal Keane and Michael Ward will be known later today when last night's GAC decision on their sendings-off in All-Ireland club semi-finals is released. If they all receive suspensions of a month or more, they will miss the St Patrick's Day club finals against Corofin and Birr, respectively. Castlehaven's objection to defeat by Erin's Isle was dropped before the meeting after television footage had demonstrated that Niall Crossan's goal had indeed crossed the line, in keeping with the umpire's original decision.

Clare (SH v Antrim): D Fitzgerald; M O'Halloran, B Lohan, R Woods; C Chaplin, S McMahon, F Lohan; C Lynch, O Baker; J O'Connor, F Hegarty, D Forde; N Gilligan, B Quinn, A Markham. Subs: J O'Brien, P O'Rourke, B Murphy, T Fahy, T Kemirons, F Flynn, B Frost, M Conlon.

Wexford (SH v Laois): D Fitzhenry; C Kehoe, G Cushe, D Berry; S Flood, S Carley, L O'Gorman; A Fenlon, J Purcell; R McCarthy, M Storey, M Jordan; T Dempsey, B Byrne, P Codd. Subs: S Kavanagh, E Furlong, R Mahon, D Caulfield, D Ruth, L Murphy, P Finn, T Kehoe, R Hassey.

Cork (SH v Kilkenny): G Cunningham; F Ryan, J Browne, D O'Sullivan; M Landers, B Corcoran, S Og O hAilpin; P Ryan, M Daly; B O'Driscoll, F McCormack, S McGrath; K Murray, A Browne, J Deane. Subs: D Og Cusack, S Barrett, D Barrett, A Walsh, D Murphy, M O'Connell, B Egan, R Dwane, S O'Farrell, P Mulcahy.

Kilkenny (SH): J McGarry; L Keoghan, P Larkin, M Kavanagh; J Costelloe, P O'Neill, E Kennedy; P Barry, E O'Dwyer; D Byrne, N Moloney, S Ryan; O O'Connor, J Carey, PJ Delaney.

Waterford (SH v Tipperary): S Brenner; S Frampton, S Cullinane, M O'Sullivan; T Feeney, F Hartley, P Queally; T Browne, G Gater; B Greene, K McGrath, G Harris; D Shanahan, B O'Sullivan, P Flynn.