Higgins takes starting role with Laois

Gaelic Football/Team News: There are few surprises in the Laois team for Sunday's Leinster football championship quarter-final at Croke Park.

Defender Joe Higgins comes back into the starting line-up for the meeting with Offaly, which is first up on the double-header with Westmeath playing Kildare.

Teenager Donie Brennan is also named in the forward line having made such a sensational breakthrough last summer, and wing back Colm Begley from Stradbally will be the sole championship debutant having delivered several positive displays during the league.

Kevin Fitzpatrick also comes back into the team but this time starts at full forward, with former captain Brian McDonald - who suffered a broken leg at the end of last year's campaign - only fit enough to feature among the substitutes.

Higgins hasn't started a competitive match since last July, when he limped off in agony as Laois were about to relinquish their Leinster title to Westmeath at Croke Park. The All Star corner back later had his worst fears realised when a scan on his left knee revealed a cruciate ligament tear.

A month later Higgins underwent a revolutionary operation in Colorado, where pieces of ligament from a cadaver were stitched into his knee muscles. Normally, the procedure involves removing some of the hamstring ligament and stitching that into the knee, but Higgins is satisfied with his recovery and appeared as a substitute in Laois's final two league matches against Down and Wexford.

His inclusion means that manager Mick O'Dwyer has called upon nine of the team that fell to Tyrone in the qualifiers - the missing being Cathal Ryan, Paul McDonald, Colm Parkinson, Paul Lawlor, Shane Cooke and Brian McDonald.

Offaly announced their line-up on Sunday, the main talking point being the return of sharp-shooter Pascal Kellaghan, who missed almost all their league campaign due to personal commitments.

Both Kildare and Westmeath have delayed the naming of their starting line-ups. Padraig Nolan is expected to welcome back defenders Andrew McLoughlin, Mick Wright and Karl Ennis, but wanted to wait a couple more days before finalising their inclusion.

Ennis did appear in the first round win over Wicklow, while McLoughlin and Wright are recovering from knee and shoulder injuries respectively.

Westmeath manager Páidí Ó Sé has a slightly more pressing selection dilemma. Paul Conway and Gary Dolan are likely to be considered after recovering from long-term injuries, but defender Donal O'Donoghue is ruled out having spent the last two months concentrating on exams.

Midfielder David O'Shaughnessy remains a minor concern with a calf injury and it appears likely that 19-year-old David Glennon - brother of Denis - will get a place in the forward line.

In Munster, Clare manager John Kennedy is without at least six first-choice players for the championship meeting with Waterford at Cusack Park through injury, and has included four new-comers partly as a result.

Starting for the first time will be defenders Brendan Moloney and Darragh Kelly and forwards Peter O'Dwyer and David Neylon. O'Dwyer joins his brothers Odran and Mick, who were all members of the Munster club winning side from Kilmurry-Ibrickane last November.

Clare's preparations have hit one problem after another and Kennedy is now left with only the bare remnants of the team that gave Kerry a decent contest this time last year - and among those gone are full back Conor Whelan, centre back Brian Considine, and midfielder Donal O'Sullivan. Whelan has a dislocated shoulder, Considine is laid low with a serious ear infection, while O'Sullivan is recovering from a groin operation.

Things aren't much better in Cavan ahead of their Ulster championship opener against Antrim at Breffni Park. Manager Eamonn Coleman has been laid low with pneumonia and won't be playing any role on Sunday, while team trainer Martin McElkennon will be serving a one-match sideline ban.

Team selectors Mark Lawlor, Mickey Reilly and Paddy McNamee will take all control for the day, and are without the services of forward Gerald Pierson, who has suffered a cruciate knee injury, and Michael Lyng and Anthony Forde (both hamstring) and Seanie Johnston (groin), while Anthony Gaynor is suspended.

Four Cavan players will make their championship debuts - goalkeeper James Reilly, along with defenders Michael Hannon, Keith Fannin and Martin Cahill.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte yesterday received good news from Brian McGuigan, who announced he would be returning from Australia on June 10th so will available for the Ulster semi-final meeting with either Cavan or Antrim on June 19th.

LAOIS (SF v Offaly): F Byron; A Fennelly, D Rooney, J Higgins; C Begley, T Kelly, P McMahon; P Clancy, N Garvan; R Munnelly, I Fitzgerald, G Kavanagh; D Brennan, K Fitzpatrick, C Conway.

CLARE (SF v Waterford): D O'Brien; P Gallagher, K Dilleen, B Moloney; A Clohessey, D Kelly, M O'Connell; G Quinlan, David Russell (Kilkee); P O'Dwyer, E Coughlan, O O'Dwyer; R Donnelly, D Neylon, M O'Dwyer.

CAVAN (SF v Antrim): J Reilly; M Hannon, D Rabbitt, K Fannin; K Crotty, P Reilly, M Cahill; D McCabe, P McKenna; M McKeever, N Walsh, F O'Reilly; J O'Reilly, J Tierney, L Reilly.