Mayo opt for three changes

GAA: Mayo make three changes for Sunday's All-Ireland under-21 football final against Armagh at Breffni Park, Cavan

GAA: Mayo make three changes for Sunday's All-Ireland under-21 football final against Armagh at Breffni Park, Cavan. The county will have had all of six days to recover from last weekend's disappointing display in the senior final against Kerry but only corner back Dermot Geraghty will be starting the two matches.

Stephen Drake comes in at left-wing back in place of Richard Feeney. Niall Lydon and Paul Doherty are the other two players to lose out from the side that beat Kildare, 1-13 to 1-7, in last month's semi-final in Salthill.

Chris Barrett indirectly replaces Lydon, who started at centre forward, coming in at centrefield with Ronan McNamara moving to the 40. Aidan Kilcoyne comes in for Doherty, whom he replaced in the semi-final, but will start at right-wing forward with Andy Moran switching to Doherty's position on the left wing.

Moran is one of three selected players who featured in the senior final as replacements. Coming in for Conor Mortimer in the second half, Moran kicked a point. Left-corner forward Michael Conroy was a half-time replacement for James Gill and finished up with a creditable 1-1 from play. Full back Pat Navin is the other player who saw action last Sunday, replacing David Heaney.

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The Connacht champions are expected to have their work cut out against the Ulster representatives, who were very impressive in demolishing Cork in their semi-final.

Meanwhile, Cumann Peil na mBan, the women's football association, will honour All-Ireland winning captains of the last 30 years at Sunday's final between Dublin and Galway. It is 30 years since the first All-Ireland women's football final and to mark the occasion, the 30 captains from the victorious teams will be presented to the crowd at half-time.

Among those who will be honoured are Tipperary's Kitty Savage, captain of the first All-Ireland winning team in 1974, the nine-in-a-row Kerry captains including Bridget Leen, Siobhán Twomey, Annette Flaherty and Kathleen Curran, Waterford's Marie Crotty and Geraldine Long, Monaghan's Angela Larkin and Maggie Kearins from the mid 1990s teams and the four Mayo captains Diane O'Hora, Maria Staunton, Christina Heffernan and Helena Lohan.

All 30 winning All-Ireland teams had different captains.

This Sunday, both Dublin's Martina Farrell and Galway's Annette Clarke will be looking to add their names to the history books.

MAYO (Under-21 FC v Armagh): F Rudd; D Geraghty, P Navin, T Howley; M Carey, L O'Malley, S Drake; B Moran, C Barrett; A Kilcoyne, R McNamara, A Moran; A Costello, D Munnelly, M Conroy.

Seán Moran

Seán Moran

Seán Moran is GAA Correspondent of The Irish Times