Galway's football manager, John O'Mahony, and his selectors have decided to name an unchanged team for Sunday's visit to Carrick-on-Shannon to play Leitrim. It's no great surprise that the side which earned an impressive win in Castlebar against All-Ireland finalists of the last two years, Mayo, have been retained.

Nonetheless, O'Mahony denies that the decision was easily reached. "People will say you never change a winning team, but it wasn't like that. There were players who didn't play as well as we would have liked, so it was only after careful deliberation that we picked the team."

He dismissed rumours prevalent in Tuam last week that Jarlath Fallon had injured his hamstring, and he confirmed that the team's centre forward had trained continuously since the first round.

Regular league corner back Robin Doyle, who missed the Mayo match because of injury, is back in training but lacks match fitness after a lay-off of five weeks.

O'Mahony paid tribute to Fallon's influence since the player returned to the panel after the rugby season. "He's made a significant impact since he came in in March, and every game he plays he gains all the time."

For the second match running, O'Mahony will be taking on a county he has led to the Connacht title. Carrick holds mixed memories for him. As manager of Leitrim, he saw the county draw with Galway before winning the replay in the championship year of 1994. But a year later, Leitrim were narrowly defeated by the same opponents and lost their title.

This year has gone well so far for Galway and that is reflected in the turnout of supporters. "People seem to be talking about football again," says O'Mahony. "There was a huge support in Castlebar, which played its part in victory - players put in a huge amount of work and like to see it being recognised."

Meanwhile, good news for Down in advance of next Sunday's Ulster first-round meeting with Armagh in Clones: Mickey Linden has been passed fit for the fray. There had been concern that a groin strain would keep him out, but according to selector John Murphy, "He's okay. He got a clean bill of health on Saturday and played a match with no ill-effects."

Defender Paul Higgins, who was suffering from the same complaint, is also on the mend and will be ready for the weekend. Down name their side tonight.

So will opponents Armagh, who have no serious injury concerns. John Rafferty sprained his ankle badly in a challenge against Kildare a couple of weeks ago, but has recovered.

Joint manager Brian McAlinden is wary of the bandwagon developing behind Armagh. "It would concern me. Supporters don't know players deep down and get more easily carried away. Crossmaglen's success last year sparked a lot of the expectations, but that's crazy. Club success doesn't translate that easily. The success of the under-21s in winning Ulster was gratifying, but Kerry destroyed them."

Leinster champions Wexford, pursuing three-in-a-row in the province for the first time since the 1950s, will name their side tonight. Long-term injuries have already ruled out last year's captain, Rod Guiney, his brother Dave, Liam Dunne and Gary Laffan. Midfielder Adrian Fenlon is still struggling with injury but, according to manager Rory Kinsella, "has every chance of making it. He's made good progress and we hope he'll be fine."

As a precaution, the team will leave the position vacant pending a fitness test on Thursday evening.

Of the absentees, Laffan is improving and has got over a bout of patella tendonitis consequent on his knee ligament operation.

Rod Guiney is out for the year, but his brother Dave is improving. Dunne is still rehabilitating after breaking his leg last November and may struggle to return for next month's Leinster final should his team-mates fend off the challenge of Offaly this weekend.

Laois, who meet Kilkenny in the other Leinster semi-final, will name a team tonight and haven't given up hope for the return of Declan Rooney, who missed out on what would have been a championship debut for the footballers. A week's intensive physiotherapy on his leg after the removal of plaster has given him a chance of making the cut.

Definitely out are corner forward Liam Tynan, also with a leg injury, and midfielder Ollie Dowling with an injured back.

Clare's All-Ireland winning manager, Ger Loughnane, is to be granted an amnesty for his pitch incursions in last year's championship, provided he furnishes the Games Administration Committee with an undertaking that he will not repeat the offences.

In hurling, Kilkenny have named an unchanged team to face Laois in Sunday's first Leinster hurling semi-final at Croke Park. Given the size of the beating handed out to Dublin, this was expected. Manager Kevin Fennelly said that there were injury concerns about Liam Keoghan (hamstring), DJ Carey (also hamstring) and Brian McEvoy (groin), but that he was confident they would make it. A fitness test will be conducted on Friday. Shane Prendergast and Johnny Dooley were not considered because of injury.