A round-up of today's other GAA stories in brief...
Kearney back but unlikely to start against Tipp
WATERFORD: Waterford selector Peter Queally has said defender Aidan Kearney is unlikely to start in next Sunday's All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final against Tipperary.
Kearney, an All Star nominee in his debut 2007 season, has returned to full training over the past fortnight after recovering from an appendix operation. He
has yet to play in the championship this season but his return gives manager Davy Fitzgerald an extra option on the bench.
However, because of Kearney's lack of match fitness Fitzgerald will be reluctant to start him cold against a Tipperary team firing on all cylinders in this year's championship.
Queally said: "His lay-off was too long to expect 70 minutes of championship hurling. He hasn't reached match fitness although he has been back training a couple of weeks."
Waterford report no other injury problems and Tony Browne will be fit to line out at centre back after shrugging off a hamstring problem.
KILKENNY: Kilkenny County Board chairman Paul Kinsella has insisted no action should be taken against Cork midfielder Tom Kenny after James "Cha" Fitzpatrick was stretchered from the field with a groin injury at the end of Sunday's All-Ireland hurling semi-final at Croke Park.
Referee Michael Wadding will not include the matter in his match report as he did not see what happened but the CCCC could take action against the Cork player.
Kinsella commented: "Officially, I would prefer that the referee deals with everything. I say that from the point of view that we can't transfer the same standard from top to bottom. Then, we're dealing with selective matches. From that point of view, what do you do with un-televised matches in Kilkenny or Tipperary?"
Kilkenny County Board secretary Ned Quinn said yesterday Fitzpatrick was very sore after the game but will make a full recovery in a couple of days. Fitzpatrick did not require a hospital visit and will rest this week as players have been released back to their clubs.
LAOIS: Niall Rigney has confirmed he will be in charge of the Laois senior hurlers in 2009 after staving off the threat of relegation from the Liam MacCarthy Cup with last Saturday's victory over Carlow.
Rigney took over in June following Damien Fox's resignation as manager and revealed that when he was asked to take over by county board officials on an interim basis, he stipulated he wanted the job for next year too.
