GAELIC GAMES: Paul Galvin's failure to recapture the standard that made him the 1,000th All Star means he is omitted from the Kerry starting line-up for the re-run of last year's All-Ireland final against Mayo in Croke Park on Sunday.
Galvin loses his place for this quarter-final clash partly as a result of a lack of form but mainly because of a throat infection that has sidelined him in the last two weeks.
The Finuge man's position in the half-forward line is taken by Eoin Brosnan with William Kirby holding off stiff competition to partner Darragh Ó Sé at midfield. Besides Brosnan, Micheál Quirke, Kieran Donaghy and Tommy Griffin are all capable of filling the centrefield role but manager Jack O'Connor has gone for Kirby's experience.
The only other change from the side that beat Cork in the Munster final on July 10th sees Marc Ó Sé move to corner back and Aidan O'Mahony move up alongside Seamus Moynihan and Tomas Ó Sé in the half-back line. Eamonn Fitzmaurice and Bryan Sheehan were pushing for inclusion in the half-back and half-forward lines respectively but both miss out.
This is the first visit back to Croke Park for both sides since Kerry convincingly beat John Maughan's team, 1-20 to 2-9, on September 26th last.
Twelve of the Kerry team from that day are back again but considering Fitzmaurice, Galvin and the retired Johnny Crowley are replaced by Darragh Ó Sé, Seamus Moynihan and Mike Frank Russell one must conclude Kerry are an even stronger force than before.
Mayo manager John Maughan has delayed announcing a team until this morning because of a number of injury concerns and selection issues. Trevor Mortimer is expected to come back into the forwards after serving a four-week suspension while Keith Higgins and Conor Moran were back training this week after injury. Marty McNicholas, who replaced Conor Mortimer last week, is out injured and a doubt also surrounds James Gill.
Selector George Golden is still confident they can give the All-Ireland champions a stern test. A repeat of the 19 wides the last day is not expected but the performance levels against Cavan did not cause too much concern.
"The players we started played quite well, as did those we brought in," said Golden. "We are coming in with reasonably good form but know we will have to improve dramatically in that (shooting) department to have any chance."
Of course, he was under no illusions that Kerry would be affected by the favourites' tag they have carried so well through the years. "We are up against it. Kerry have been coming in as favourites to matches for about 120 years, since the GAA was formed, so I don't think that will be much of a problem to them."
Connacht champions Galway have included Joe Bergin and Michael Donnellan for their All-Ireland quarter-final against Cork this Sunday after both were passed fit. Bergin has been troubled by a knee injury this summer and such has been the form of under-21 midfield combination Barry Cullinane and Niall Coleman that he has been redeployed to the half-forward line.
Kieran Comer is out of the team as manager Peter Ford reshuffles his forward lines. Donnellan has recovered from a stomach bug and moves from centre forward to the corner, although it is likely he will adopt his usual roaming role once the game starts. Padraig Joyce is named at centre forward with Derek Savage in at full forward. Again, how long this formation holds is another matter.
This point is borne out by the contrasting line-up released on the official Galway GAA website which has Joyce in his usual full-forward role, Matthew Clancy leading the attack and Derek Savage at wing forward.
Seán Óg de Paor has been ruled out of the panel for the weekend as he is struggling to regain fitness.
Monaghan will make a final decision tomorrow regarding who replaces the old warrior, AN Other, in the half-forward line for Saturday's qualifier against Tyrone. The main candidates are Rory Woods and Fergal Duffy, with the latter to undergo a late fitness test.
It also seems unlikely that full forward Raymond Ronaghan will be making a return to the panel. Hope was held for his return after defender Gary McQuaid, who was also dismissed for disciplinary reasons by manager Seamus McEnaney, was offered the olive branch recently and was duly included in the team line-up.
The Tyrone and Derry teams, for their respective qualifier matches on Saturday, are expected to be announced tonight.
KERRY (SFC v Mayo): D Murphy; M Ó Sé, M McCarthy, T O'Sullivan; T Ó Sé, S Moynihan, A O'Mahony; D Ó Sé, W Kirby; L Hassett, D O'Sullivan, E Brosnan; C Cooper, D Ó Cinneide, MF Russell.
GALWAY (SFC v Cork): B O'Donoghue; K Fitzgerald, V Hanley, A Burke; D Meehan, P Clancy, D Burke; B Cullinane, N Coleman; M Clancy, P Joyce, J Bergin; M Meehan, D Savage, M Donnellan.
