MEATH and Mayo continue to reap the harvest of those moments of madness at the beginning of the All Ireland final replay in September as both struggle to keep their equilibrium in the National League.
Meath are particularly badly hit. Besides the eight suspensions they have been severely hit by injuries, which means that four other contenders for places in the team to play Kerry in Navan on Sunday will not be available.
In Mayo there is considerable anxiety about team morale as two players selected for the last National League match against Laois were withdrawn by their club Knockmore at the last minute, much to the annoyance of Mayo manager John Maughan.
The players withdrawn were Peter Butler and Kevin O'Neill and there is a feeling in the county that neither will appear in the Mayo jersey again. Both are in their late 20s.
For the match against Dublin on Sunday, Mayo, apart from their seven suspended players, will be without Maurice Sheridan and Pat Fallon while P J Loftus has returned to work in the United States. Declan Jennings from the junior county champions, Breaffy, is expected to get a call up.
Donegal have been hit by pro found tragedy with the death of Patrick Cunningham. He was a member of the squad which faced Cork in Donegal's last match in Omagh and was severely injured in a car crash on his way home to Glencolumbcille afterwards. He died yesterday in a Dublin hospital. He was 22 years old and regarded as a very bright prospect.
Yesterday evening the team met at Donegal rugby club grounds, but team manager P J McGowan said: "Nobody was in the mood to train, which was understandable in the circumstances." As a mark of respect, Donegal will delay naming their team to play Cavan until Sunday.
Meath's full back against Cork, Stephen O'Rourke, was injured in that match and will not play on Sunday against Kerry. Also missing from the Meath line out will be Brendan Reilly, Colm Brady and Barry Callaghan.
Kerry bring in Pa Laide, Mike F Russell and Morgan O'Shea as they continue to experiment. O'Shea comes in at full back, Laide at right half forward and Russell in the left corner of the attack.
Derry have serious injury problems for their home match against Cork. Six have reported injuries Kildare have made one change in personnel and left another spot vacant on their team to play Tyrone at Newbridge on Sunday. Full back John Finn returns to the team, having recovered from the ankle injury that ruled him out of the Cavan game.
He plays instead of Richie Coyle, who was sent off in the second half against Cavan. The left half back position is left vacant because of an injury to Derek Maher. In defence, Brian Fahy and Anthony Rainbow have swapped positions.
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