Diarmuid Marsden is back on the Armagh team for tomorrow's Bank of Ireland football championship replay against Kerry. He replaces the championship newcomer Stephen McDonnell from Killeavey.

It is the Clan Na Gael man's first start since the Ulster semi-final, a match that saw him carried off injured after receiving his first touch of the ball. Tomorrow marks the culmination of his journey to full fitness.

The current All-Star was introduced as a substitute during the drawn game, but his influence was muted in comparison to Kerry's celebrated non-starter Maurice Fitzgerald.

With the brilliant Kerry forward now listed as extremely doubtful after picking up an injury during his heroics in the drawn match, the feeling was that the Armagh selectors would be tempted to preserve Marsden and spring him from the bench once again.

"The thinking was that Diarmuid never really got going the last day because of coming into the middle of the game so they want to give him a fair chance this time round," said PRO Paddy Nugent last night.

Deadly accurate and equipped with dynamic pace, Marsden is both a marvellous score-taker and play-maker. There will be great hopes that his return can ignite Oisin McConville, who is journeying through an ineffective summer by his own standards.

Marsden is listed at corner forward, but the front six are almost certain to change positionally. Full forward Barry O'Hagan is likely to drop back to centre half, with Paul McGrane moving to midfield and Tony McEntee going into the edge of the square.

Armagh may opt to isolate Marsden and McConville up front or possibly bring Marsden out deep to get him involved in early play-building.

Overall, the team has a very settled look. The back seven lined out against Meath in last year's All-Ireland semi-final while the midfield duo of John McEntee and Paul McGrane has been thriving.

Cathal O'Rourke and Barry O'Hagan are the two changes since last year's defeat and both, arguably, bring more balance and scoring potential to the front six.

O'Hagan was recalled only a week before the Fermanagh match and has given an impressive account of himself each time since. He hit 1-1 against Kerry last time out.

ARMAGH: B Tierney; E McNulty, G Reid, J McNulty; K Hughes, K McGeeney, A McCann; J McEntee, T McEntee; C O'Rourke, P McGrane, P McKeever; D Marsden, B O'Hagan, O McConville.