Ian O'Riordan

The equality of confidence in both Kildare and Laois is reflected in the teams named last night for Sunday's Leinster football final at Croke Park. Neither shows any changes from the semi-finals, and the only talking point is the vacancy left in the Kildare team as Anthony Rainbow awaits a final fitness test on a leg injury.

Rainbow's leg problem, caused by a damaged blood vessel, is not feared serious enough to keep him out of action, and manager Padraig Nolan merely wanted to give his wing back a little more time to make sure he was completely right. And, as team captain, it is hard to imagine Rainbow not making the starting line-up.

It means Kildare will almost certainly start with the same 15 that lined out against Longford in the quarter-final and Meath in the semi-final. Yet that means eight changes from last year's Leinster final against Dublin, including different players in every sector of the field except the goalkeeper.

Into the full back line comes David Lyons and Andrew McLoughlin, at half back Mick Wright and Karl Ennis, and at midfield Alan Barry. Half forward Patrick Murray and full forwards Derek McCormack and Stuart McKenzie Smith complete the changes from a year ago.

Gone from the Leinster final line-up of a year ago are defenders Padraig Mullarkey, Ken Doyle, Kenny Duane and Damien Hendy, injured midfielder Dermot Earley, and forwards Eddie McCormack, Karl O'Dwyer and Martin Lynch.

Similarly, Laois will start with exactly the same team that beat Dublin last month, although manager Mick O'Dwyer has rearranged the positioning of his full forwards. Team captain Ian Fitzgerald moves into full forward from right corner forward. As a result Damien Delaney moves out to the left corner, and Beano McDonald will start on the right.

Further back the field, Tom Kelly again starts at centre back, only this time without the finger injury that had cast some doubt over his effect in the Dublin game, doubts which on the day were quickly put to bed.

Only two substitutes were introduced in the two-point win over Dublin, Hughie Emerson for Fitzgerald and Stephen Kelly for Delaney, and they are again likely to see some action on Sunday. Colm Parkinson, another of the regular forwards during the league who missed the Dublin game, has recovered from his hamstring problems and is a great option for O'Dwyer should scoring become a problem on Sunday.

The Leinster Council yesterday reiterated that tickets for the game can still be purchased from the respective county boards, and that while an attendance of over 50,000 is expected ticket availability should not be a problem. Clonliffe College will be available for parking.

Elsewhere, Mattie Kerrigan has resigned as Cavan senior football manager, announcing his decision at Monday night's meeting of the county board.

LAOIS (SF v Kildare): F Byron; A Fennelly, C Byrne, J Higgins; D Rooney, T Kelly, K Fitzpatrick; P Clancy, N Garvan; R Munnelly, M Lawlor, G Kavanagh; B McDonald, I Fitzgerald, D Delaney.

KILDARE (SF v Laois): E Murphy; B Lacey, D Lyons, A McLoughlin; AN Other, M Wright, K Ennis; A Barry, K Brennan; P Murray, J Doyle, R Sweeney; D McCormack, S McKenzie Smyth, T Fennin.