NEWS:LIMERICK FOOTBALLERS have been dealt a major blow ahead of next Sunday's Munster football first round against Tipperary with the news that experienced defender Conor Mullane, a veteran of the county's Munster final appearances in 2003 and '04, has been ruled out through injury.

The St Senan's club man has been suffering with a groin injury that has been slow to respond to treatment and manager Mickey O'Sullivan has confirmed Mullane will not feature in Fermoy.

The team is expected to be named tonight but O'Sullivan will wait until Friday night before deciding on the fitness of three key players: corner back Shane Gallagher (hamstring) and forwards Conor O'Crualaí (also hamstring) and Michael Reidy (groin).

Meanwhile, Carlow county chair Pat Deering has confirmed Paul Bealin will remain in charge of the county's senior footballers despite Sunday's 20-point defeat against Meath. Deering also expressed the hope leading players would not walk away en masse before the Tommy Murphy Cup campaign begins in July.

"We appointed Paul and his team on a three-year term," he said, "subject to a review every year. Paul has no intention of walking away . . . When Paul came in he was starting from the very bottom and in fairness, he has managed to stabilise the situation and we must now move on from there. We were well beaten in the first round last year (Offaly), following on from the Thomas Walsh affair (the player who decamped to Wicklow and played a significant role in the county's win over Kildare), before being walloped by Waterford in the Tommy Murphy Cup.

"We put a five-year plan in place and did our best to find the best possible manager in Paul Bealin. A lot of structures were put in place . . . to remove every possible excuse players could have."