News:Tipperary hope to have a new senior hurling manager in place by the beginning of next month.

This follows the announcement Babs Keating was stepping down from the position at the weekend. The matter will be discussed at tonight's meeting of the county board.

"Babs's decision was timely," said county PRO Ed Donnelly, "because we meet on the first Tuesday of each month and that will allow us a chance to discuss the matter. The meeting will probably put structures in place, a sub-committee to go away and look into a new appointment and make recommendations.

"Normal procedure in Tipperary is that the managements for all county teams is put in place by the September meeting and that would be the intention now."

A number of prominent players from the county have been involved with county teams in recent years. Top of the list for the board is likely to be Nicky English, who led the county to its last All-Ireland in 2001. But among the others with a track record are Liam Sheedy, who managed last year's minors to an All-Ireland, and the management trio of Declan Ryan, Tommy Dunne and Liam Cahill, who succeeded Sheedy and have already taken the minors to this year's Munster title.

Former goalkeeper Ken Hogan was a selector with English and manager in his own right until two years ago whereas John Leahy served as a selector with the outgoing management and received Keating's endorsement as his successor. According to Donnelly: "Everything at the moment is speculation."

Meanwhile, Dublin and Derry have a full pick for this weekend's All-Ireland football quarter-final, which has sold out Croke Park.

"Everyone's in good shape," according to Dublin selector David Billings. "We had a week off after the Leinster final and local championship matches were played but we've been back in training for the past two weeks."

The comfortable provincial championship win over Laois - who were defeated by Derry in the last round of the qualifiers - and lack of injury concerns means the team is likely to show little change as the county presses for a second successive All-Ireland semi-final spot, against either Kerry or Monaghan.

Derry are in a similarly happy position ahead of what will be the first meeting of the counties in four years at championship level and the second since the famous All-Ireland semi-final of 1993, which the Ulster side won by a single point en route to the county's first and so far only All-Ireland.

A number of injuries picked up in the win over Laois two weeks ago have cleared up. Mark Lynch, Michael McGoldrick and Paul Murphy have all returned to training and are available for selection. Billings is familiar with a number of Saturday's opponents because of his role as UCD GAA officer and his involvement in the Sigerson Cup, which pitched his team against such players as Lynch (UU Jordanstown) and Queens' pair Gavin Donaghy and Gerard O'Kane.

Derry manager Paddy Crozier has his own connection with the opposition but not in recent times. He lived in Dublin and played with the Civil Service club, winning a county championship nearly 30 years ago alongside other future intercounty managers Pat O'Neill (Dublin) and Séamus Bonner (Leitrim, whose son Kevin is in the Dublin panel).

Crozier's main selection conundrum will concern team captain Kevin McGuckin, who came on against Laois, and is fully fit again after missing most of the season with a broken leg.