News Round-up: It's hard not to reminisce a little ahead of Dublin's rearranged Allianz League game with Offaly in Tullamore tomorrow (3.0). For a start, manager Tommy Lyons takes Dublin back into the county he led to league success four years ago. It is also a rematch of the Leinster semi-final last June.

Yet neither Lyons nor Offaly manager Padraig Nolan will dwell on the past for long. Of sole importance are the league points, with Dublin out to amend last Sunday's narrow loss to Tyrone and Offaly out to improve on defeat to Donegal on the same day.

"The beauty of the way the league is running now is that you can't look back for too long," says Nolan. "Because you've got another game coming straight up you have to be looking at that almost immediately."

Had the game gone ahead as planned last month, their would have been an extended build-up in the Offaly camp. Instead, says Nolan, the players have only been focusing on the game since last night's training session.

"Now that the league has started, this game is less about playing Dublin. Of course there is always an extra buzz playing Dublin, regardless of who is in charge. They bring something special to the game.

"And I'm sure there is still going to be an extra buzz on the day because Tommy (Lyons) is coming back down for the first time. He had a marvellous record down in Offaly and it's only natural that his visit is going to attract extra interest."

Nolan, however, is far more concerned about improving on last week. "I thought we played reasonably well for about three-quarters of the game against Donegal.

"We put up 10 points in the first half against the wind, which was quite a good contribution. But we certainly didn't finish too strong and whether that was lack of match practice or Donegal being fitter I don't really know, but some of that will be answered over the next few weeks."

Dublin have made four changes for the game. Brian Murphy is given the goalkeeping duties in place of Stephen Cluxton, who is involved in the Trench Cup, while Ken Darcy and Jonathon Magee take over midfield from Darren Homan and Darren Magee.

Paul Curran makes his first league start at wing back in an indirect swap with Declan Darcy. The vacancy at centre forward is expected to be filled by Shane Ryan.

Offaly will bring Sean Grennan into the half-forward line in place of the injured Colm Quinn.

Meanwhile, the GAA's Games Administration Committee (GAC) have deferred a decision on the controversy surrounding the Kildare-Sligo draw in the NFL game in Newbridge last Sunday week.

Kildare were deemed to have breached the substitution rules by making six changes during the course of the game - though they believed that at least two of those were blood substitutes.

It was expected that Kildare will be docked a point, but the GAC have decided there is not enough information in the referee's report to make a ruling on the matter. They will make their own investigation before coming to a judgement next Wednesday.

Elsewhere, former All-Ireland club football champions Crossmaglen Rangers have agreed a compensation settlement with the Northern Ireland Office regarding the occupation of club property. The deal is reported to be worth £450,000 sterling.

Tipperary have named 13 of their All-Ireland-winning side for Sunday's NHL opener against Offaly in Birr. Liam Cahill comes into the full-forward line in place of the retired Declan Ryan. He plays in the right corner, with Eugene O'Neill moving to full forward.

Noel Morris starts at midfield in place of team captain Tomas Dunne, who is being rested.

TIPPERARY (SH v Offaly): B Cummins; T Costello, P Maher, P Ormonde; E Corcoran, D Kennedy, P Kelly; E Enright, N Morris; M O'Leary, J Carroll, L Corbett; L Cahill, E O'Neill, E Kelly.

DUBLIN (SF v Offaly): B Murphy; D Henry, P Andrews, C Goggins; P Casey, B Cahill, P Curran; K Darcy, J Magee; C Whelan, AN Other, E Bennis; A Brogan, J McNally, R Cosgrove.

KILDARE (SF v Cavan): E Murphy; C Davey, R Quinn, K Doyle; T Harris, A Rainbow, K Duane; K Brennan, A Harris; P Murray, K O'Dwyer, S McKenzie-Smith; T Fennin, L Donlon and D McCormack.

TYRONE (SF v Roscommon): P Ward; C Gormley, C Lawn, B Robinson; R McMenamin, S Teague, D McCrossan; C McAnallen, J Quinn; B Dooher, S O'Neill, G Cavlan; P Canavan, K Hughes, B McGuckin. Subs: J Devine, B McGuigan, C Holmes, D Gormley, C Gourley, C Meenagh, J Gormley, R Thornton, S Kavanagh, P Jordan, E McGinley, P McLaughlin, R Meenagh, G McCallan.

DONEGAL (SF v Galway): T Blake; E Doherty, M Crossan, N McGinley; R Sweeney, B Monaghan, D Diver; J McGuinness, K Rafferty; M Hegarty, J Gildea, B Roper; A Gallagher, A Sweeney, J McCafferty.