GAA team news: Seanie Johnston will be kept in reserve when his new county Kildare travel to Breffni Park to take on his old teammates Cavan in the All-Ireland football qualifiers this weekend.
The former Cavan marksman, who has yet to make his first appearance for the Lilywhites following a protracted transfer process, was not named in Kieren McGeeney’s starting line-up this morning.
A shoulder injury had threatened to keep Johnston out of the trip to Ulster but the 27-year-old returned to training earlier this week and was available for selection. However, although McGeeney did make two changes from the side beaten by Meath in the Leinster semi-finals Johnston was not one of them.
Instead, Andriú MacLochlainn and Robert Kelly come into the side with Ollie Lyons and Padraig O’Neill while McGeeney has also mixed and match in terms of positional switches. Cavan boss Terry Hyland has yet to name his side for Sunday’s match.
Mayo manager James Horan has made just one change to his side for Sunday’s Connacht football final against Sligo. Alan Freeman, a goal scorer in the 4-20 to 0-10 rout of Leitrim in the semi-finals, makes way at corner forward for Enda Varley with Horan opting to leave well enough alone elsewhere.
Sligo have also made just the one change for the match at Dr Hyde Park, with Tony Taylor replacing Eugene Mullen in midfield following his impressive second-half cameo against Galway last month.
Kildare (v Cavan): S Connolly; A MacLochlainn, M Foley, P Kelly; E Bolton, M O'Flaherty, H McGrillen; D Flynn, R Kelly; E O'Flaherty, M Conway, A Smith; J Doyle, T O'Connor, J Kavanagh.
Mayo (v Sligo): D Clarke; K Keane, G Cafferkey, K Higgins; L Keegan, D Vaughan, C Boyle; B Moran, D Geraghty; K McLoughlin, C O'Connor, A Dillon; E Varley, A Moran, J Doherty.
Sligo (v Mayo): P Greene; N Ewing, J Martyn, R Donovan; C Harrison, M Quinn, P McGovern; S McManus, T Taylor; A Costello, P Hughes, B Egan; M Breheny, A Marren, D Kelly.