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Scanlon's injury may keep him out longer

GAA: CONCERNS ARE growing over the exact nature of the head injury that has forced Séamus Scanlon to miss Kerry’s Munster football…

IAN O'RIORDAN Reports
Thu Jun 02 2011 - 01:00

GAA:CONCERNS ARE growing over the exact nature of the head injury that has forced Séamus Scanlon to miss Kerry's Munster football semi-final against Limerick on Sunday.

Scanlon was substituted just before half-time in Kerry’s 11-point quarter-final win over Tipperary last Sunday week, with a visibly bloody head wound. He was not included in the Kerry team to face Limerick, nor listed among the substitutes, and instead a short statement from the Kerry County Board merely confirmed that “Scanlon is undergoing a minor medical procedure” and therefore unavailable for selection.

There are some fears Scanlon may also have suffered a minor concussion, and therefore will be ruled out of action for a couple more weeks, and if so in danger of missing the Munster final on July 3rd, assuming of course Kerry beat Limerick to get that far.

In the meantime manager Jack O’Connor restores Anthony Maher to one of the midfield positions for Sunday’s showdown at the Gaelic Grounds – a repeat of last year’s Munster final which Kerry won by just three points.

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Maher was originally named to start against Tipperary the last day but had to withdraw the night before because of the flu, while Bryan Sheehan is again named in the other midfield position.

There is one other enforced change in the defence: with Tomás Ó Sé serving his eight-week ban for the straight red card received in the Tipperary game (doubled from four weeks because of a repeat offence within the 48-week timescale) Shane Enright from Tarbert is given his first championship start, and will wear the number two shirt. This an indirect replacement for Ó Sé, as Killian Young moves from right-corner back to left-half back, and Aidan O’Mahony switching wings.

Paul Galvin must once again be content with a place on the bench, as the 2009 footballer of the year is still a little short of match fitness due to the after effects of a hamstring pull, although he did play a full 60 minutes with his club Finuge last weekend and certain to see action at some stage, having been called in for the last 20 minutes against Tipperary.

The Limerick team sees Tom Lee handed the daunting task of replacing John Galvin, as Galvin – Limerick’s standout midfielder of recent seasons – misses the rest of the year with a cruciate ligament tear. Jim Donovan will partner Lee at midfield, while Shane Gallagher is named at full back.

Limerick will also be without dual star and Galvin’s Croom club mate Stephen Lucey, who sustained a hamstring injury playing in a hurling challenge against Galway last weekend. Lucey is also considered a major doubt for the Limerick hurlers when they play Waterford in the Munster semi-final on Sunday week.

But there is some good news for manager Maurice Horan as Limerick’s other dual star, Mark O’Riordan, is passed fit to play despite injuring his chest in the Galway game, and forward Stephen Kelly is also given the all-clear to start despite some lingering effects of a groin injury sustained playing rugby for Shannon earlier this year.

Laois will field an unchanged team against Dublin in Sunday’s Leinster football double-bill at Croke Park, as manager Justin McNulty has somewhat surprisingly kept faith with the same 15 that narrowly survived against Longford in the preliminary round. It means both Donie Kingston and Pádraig Clancy are again kept in reserve, with Colm Begley again partnering Brendan Quigley at midfield.

Meath kick things off on Sunday with their meeting with Kildare, and while manager Séamus McEnaney hasn’t risked starting Graham Geraghty, the former All-Ireland winning captain is named among the substitutes.

Stephen Bray makes his first competitive start of the year at corner forward, having been away for periods of the league, while there are just two debutants in under-21 defenders Bryan Menton and Ciarán Lenehan.

KERRY(SF v Limerick): B Kealy; S Enright, M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan; A O'Mahony, E Brosnan, K Young, A Maher, B Sheehan, Darran O'Sullivan, Declan O'Sullivan, D Walsh; C Cooper, K Donaghy, K O'Leary.

LIMERICK(SF v Kerry): Brian Scanlon; Stephen Lavin, Shane Gallagher, Mark O'Riordan; Pa Ranahan, Johnny McCarthy, Barry Fitzpatrick; Tom Lee, Jim Donovan; Seánie Buckley, James Kelly, Stephen Kelly; Ger Collins, John Cooke, Ian Ryan.

LAOIS(SF v Dublin): Eoin Culleton; Cahir Healy, Kevin Meaney, Mark Timmons; Darren Strong, Shane Julian, Peter O'Leary; Colm Begley, Brendan Quigley; Daithí Carroll, John O'Loughlin, Niall Donoher; Ross Munnelly, Billy Sheehan, Michael John Tierney.

MEATH(SF v Kildare): Brendan Murphy; Gary O'Brien, Kevin Reilly, Shane McAnarney; Séamus Kenny, Bryan Menton, Ciarán Lenehan; Nigel Crawford, Brian Meade; Jamie Queeney, Shane O'Rourke, Graham Reilly; Stephen Bray, Joe Sheridan, Cian Ward.