National League Team newsThere was more drama in the Mayo senior football panel this week with the news that goalkeeper Fintan Ruddy has been dropped from the squad - just three days after lining out against Dublin in the opening round of the National Football League. Ruddy was informed of the team management's decision on Tuesday by manager John Maughan.
Ruddy said yesterday: "It came as a huge shock to me.I was gutted to be honest. I trained really hard in January, got into good shape, and was as fit as I was going to be. I never missed a training session, never pulled out of training, and felt I was getting fitter and fitter. I didn't feel I was playing that badly but John said he felt that I was playing poorly. He said he wanted to have a look at younger players, and that I would be his fourth-choice goalkeeper at the moment."
Maughan confirmed yesterday Ruddy (21) had been dropped and was adamant the decision was taken because of a desire to try out some new, young, players. He said: "At this point in time we're giving an opportunity to younger players to make an impression during the National League.
"That's the whole purpose of the competition, to allow players to stake a claim for championship places. We've decided to do that for Sunday's game and the situation is that David Clarke plays in goal and Richie Byrne will be our substitute goalkeeper. It's not as a result of last Saturday night's game, not at all," continued Maughan. "There's nothing sinister about this . . . Whether or not he comes back into the panel or not will depend on Fintan."
Ruddy has been a member of the Mayo senior football panel since 2002 and played in the last two Connacht finals, keeping a clean sheet against Roscommon last year. Ruddy said he is uncertain about what the future holds for him. "I just don't know about my next move. I'm just in shock at the moment. I didn't expect to get dropped three days after a league game . . . I felt I did okay against Dublin the last night. I'll hold my hand up for the first goal and some of my kick-outs weren't great but I hadn't done much ball-work in the past month, it was all fitness work. Everyone has a bad game."
Meanwhile, Glenn Ryan returns to the Kildare team for Sunday's Division Two B clash against Wexford, while Padraig Donnelly also comes in for John O'Donoghue in the full forward line.
Wexford manager Pat Roe has made two changes. Brendan Doyle and Redmond Barry, who came on at half-time, are retained at the expense of Jim D'Arcy, who has a hamstring injury, and John Hegarty.
Limerick show one change for Sunday's date with Down at the Gaelic Grounds (2.0). Padraig Browne, who replaced the injured Pat Fitzgerald in Portlaoise, retains his place, moving to corner back and Conor Mullane switches to the forward line.
KILDARE (SF v Wexford): E Murphy; E Callaghan, D Hughes, A McLoughlin; A Rainbow, G Ryan, K Ennis; M Foley, K Brennan; D McCormack, R Glavin, R Sweeney; T Fennin, P Donnelly, J Doyle
WEXFORD (SF v Kildare): J Cooper; C Morris, P Wallace, N Murphy; D Breen, D Murphy, S Cullen; D Kinsella, B Doyle; D Fogarty, P Colfer, R Barry; D Foran, J Hudson, M Forde.
LIMERICK (SF v Down): J Kiely;M O'Riordan, D Sheehy, J McCarthy, D Reidy, S Lavin, P Browne; J Quane, J O'Donovan; S Buckley, C Mullane, M O'Brien, M Reidy, J Murphy, G Ahern.
OFFALY (SF v Kerry): C McNamara; N Grennan, C Evans, S Brady; B Mooney, J Keane, K Slattery; C McManus, A McNamee; N Coughlan, J Kenny, J Reynolds; C Quinn, N McNamee, J Coughlan.
CLARE (SF v Monaghan): D McInerney; P Gallagher, D Kelly, K Dilleen; D Blake, B Considine, M O'Connell; David Russell, G Quinlan; Denis Russell, S Daniels, M O'Shea; A Clohessy, S Hickey, R Donnelly.
MONAGHAN (SF v Clare): S Duffy; G McQuaid, J Coyle, C Flanagan; JP Mone, R Ronaghan, J Ward; J McElroy, D Clerkin; D McArdle, D Freeman (capt.), S Gollogly; T Freeman, F Duffy, M Daly.
DERRY (SF v Louth): B Gillis; K McGuckin, K McCloy, G O'Kane; P McFlynn, SM Lockhart, P Kelly; F Doherty, J McBride; Paul Murphy, C Gilligan, F McEldowney; Padraig Murphy, Paddy Bradley (capt), Paul Bradley.
KILKENNY (SH v Wexford): J McGarry; M Kavanagh, N Hickey, J Ryall; R Mullally, B Hogan, JJ Delaney; M Comerford, C Herity; C Phelan, D Lyng, E Brennan; J Maher, J Hoyne, H Shefflin.
