McCarthy is forced to revamp defence

Waterford manager Gerald McCarthy has been forced to alter the team's defensive line-up for Sunday's National Hurling League semi-final against Galway in Thurles. The game is the first of a semi-final double-bill, with Limerick facing Tipperary in the second game.

Sean Cullinane is unable to fill his regular corner-back position for Waterford after suffering a recurrence of an old hamstring injury while playing for his club, Passage East, on Sunday, and Brian Flannery makes the switch from wing back to take over in the corner.

Peter Queally - who is back from a brief lay-off - will start at left wing back, with James Murray on the other wing and Fergal Hartley in the centre. Stephen Frampton is still out of consideration because of his touring exploits in Australia with an AIB hurling team.

Tony Browne - fast approaching full fitness - will again partner Johnny Brenner at midfield but there are a few rearrangements among the forwards.

Team captain Paul Flynn, more familiar at wing forward in recent games, moves to the left corner in a direct swap with Dave Bennett. And Michael White returns from injury to regain his starting place in the other corner ahead of Barry Walsh.

The Waterford-Galway game opens the double-bill at Semple Stadium at 2.0, and this will be followed by the Tipperary-Limerick clash at 3.45.

There are two minor adjustments to the Galway team. Michael Crimmins is back between the posts in place of Kevin Boyle: they have been switching places throughout the league series. Boyle started in goal for Galway's last game against Limerick as Crimmins was suffering from a minor hamstring injury.

In the full-back line, Vennie Maher resumes his usual role in the corner after missing the last outing with a shoulder injury. Otherwise, manager Mattie Murphy has kept the same team which defeated Limerick by five points and concluded their standard league series with an unbeaten record.

That means Eugene Cloonan, who remains suspended for his sending-off during an under-21 club match, is again replaced by Ollie Canning in the corner forward slot. But there was nothing inferior about Canning's role the last day as he picked up two goals and two points.

League title holders Tipperary have also made a couple of alterations for their meeting with Limerick. Both Paul Ormonde and David Kennedy are over their minor injury worries and are back in the starting line-up.

Ormonde will take over the corner back spot from Liam Sheedy, who started there in Tipperary's last league game with Waterford. Kennedy comes into centre back, with John Carroll - who played there the last day - making the move to midfield. As a result, Eddie Enright loses his place in the midfield partnership with Andy Moloney.

Manager Nicky English has left the forwards unchanged, which means that the expected return of John Leahy to the starting line-up has been postponed for the time being. Leahy scored an impressive 2-4 in Tipperary's challenge match with Kilkenny last Sunday and also came on to good effect on as a substitute in the Waterford game. However, his re-emergence is likely to continue on a more gradual basis.

Limerick's adjustments are equally minor. Manager Eamonn Cregan has settled on one notable switch in both the defence and forwards from that which last lined out against Galway.

Dual player Brian Geary moves from wing back to corner back, with John Foley dropping back to the half-back line. Up front, James Butler is now back in the starting line-up at right corner forward with Mark Keane stepping back to the wing. As a result, John Moran moves back to midfield.

Full forward Brian Begley will be hoping, along with Geary, that he can come through this evening's under-21 football semi-inal with Westmeath unscathed. Begley, with the likes of Butler and Barry Foley, has been proving a very useful scoring ingredient in this new-look Limerick side.

Limerick's last major clash with Tipperary was in the championship two years ago, and Tipperary won handily.

Meanwhile, the National Football League final between Meath and Derry will go ahead at Croke Park as planned on Sunday week. There were some doubts surrounding the ability of GAA headquarters to stage the final due to the ongoing redevelopment work - still running somewhat behind schedule - but Croke Park have confirmed that the building work will be halted in order to host the finals.

This follows Central Council guidelines that all league finals would be played in Croke Park in future years and the Games Administration Committee are now expected to runner-stamp the fixture when they meet tomorrow night. The Division Two final between Louth and Offaly has also been confirmed for Croke Park as a curtain-raiser to the MeathDerry game.

WATERFORD (SH v Galway): B Landers; T Feeney, J O'Connor, B Flannery; J Murray, F Hartley, P Queally; T Browne, J Brenner; D Shanahan, K McGrath, D Bennett; M White, A Kirwan, P Flynn.

GALWAY (SH v Waterford): M Crimmins; F Gantley, B Feeney, V Maher; L Hodgins, C Moore, P Hardiman; A Kerins, R Gantley; J Rabbitte, M Kerins, K Broderick; O Canning, O Fahy, F Healy.

LIMERICK (SH v Tipperary): T Houlihan; S McDonagh, TJ Ryan, B Geary; J Foley, O Moran, M Foley; C Smith, J Moran; S O'Neill, M O'Brien, M Keane; J Butler, B Begley, B Foley. TIPPERARY (SH v Limerick): B Cummins; P Ormonde, P Maher, M Ryan; N Morris, D Kennedy, E Corcoran; A Moloney, J Carroll; M O'Leary, D Ryan, T Dunne; L Cahill, P Shelly, P O'Brien.