Mayo bring in four debutants

IN THE first championship selection of the year, Mayo manager John O’Mahony brings in four debutants for the trip to New York and Sunday’s first round of the Connacht championship.

Chasing a first provincial title in the third year of his second term with the county, O’Mahony brings in Ger Cafferkey, who won an under-21 All-Ireland in 2006 but has been since plagued by injuries, at full back. Others getting a first championship start are three of this year’s under-21 provincial winning team, which lost narrowly to Down in the All-Ireland semi-final: corner back Kevin McLoughlin, wing back Donal Vaughan and last year’s talented minor Aidan O’Shea.

Assuming they win, Mayo will face the winners of Leitrim-Roscommon in the semi-final.

The GAA announced yesterday referees will discontinue the practice of showing the black book to players for “noting or ticking” infractions. The decision was taken by the national referees’ committee after consultation and is designed to save time during matches, which previously had to be held up for the reprimand to be visibly administered. Instead players will be told they have been ticked. This is just a procedural change and won’t require any amendment to rule.

Finally, TV3 have announced their schedule of broadcasts for the championship. It includes four provincial finals, all but the Ulster decider in football as well as the Leinster hurling final.

The station is also in a position to pick up the likely marquee Munster semi-final between Kerry and Cork (assuming they beat Waterford) in Killarney, which takes place on the same afternoon as the RTÉ-broadcast Dublin-Meath encounter at Croke Park.

A month later the station, now in the second year of its first championship rights deal, will show the Munster football and Leinster hurling finals on the same afternoon, July 5th. It will also have first-pick rights to the second, third and fourth rounds of the All-Ireland football qualifiers.

MAYO(SF v New York): D Clarke; L O'Malley, G Cafferkey, K McLoughlin; P Gardiner, T Howley, D Vaughan; T Parsons, R McGarrity; P Harte, T Mortimer (capt), A Dillon; A Moran, A O'Shea, B Moran.