Waterford and Mayo ready to reopen fire

The hooter is in tune and the clock ready to count down and so, on Sunday, Mayo and Waterford get to renew their All-Ireland rivalry. A repeat of last year's women's football final is set to provide another lively afternoon in Croke Park and, if their paths to the final are anything to go by, the battle for victory will be intense.

Tyrone learned the hard way that a seven-point lead can be a tenuous thing when a player called Cora Staunton is part of the opposing attack. Earlier this month, when Mayo and Tyrone clashed in the curtain-raiser to the men's Kerry-Armagh replay, no one who made an early arrival for the main bill would forget the incredible contribution of the Mayo full forward.

By the end of afternoon, Staunton had scored three goals and six points, helping Mayo to the 5-10 to 2-12 victory. And the 19-year-old student is again likely to be the main weapon in the Mayo attack as they attempt to defend the title they claimed for the first time last year.

Waterford, however, have been the most consistent team in the last decade - picking up five titles, the most recent in 1998. Their semi-final win over Meath was equally convincing.

Neither team is expected to make any changes from the semi-final line-ups and at least any controversy over the amount of injury-time played will be avoided. The stadium clock will make it quite clear to everyone exactly how much there is (or isn't) left.

Meanwhile, London have appointed a new senior football manager. Tom Roche was approved by the county board yesterday after Tommy McDermott stepped down from the position at the international football tournament in Dublin last weekend.

London have seen a host of their best players return to Ireland in the last five years and this season lost all their league fixtures before being heavily defeated by Roscommon in the championship in June, but Listowel-born Roche, who has taken his side Kingdom/Kerry Gaels to the county final this year, has pledged to restore embattled London's pride.

"I am delighted at the appointment," he said. "I have had lots of great times as a player and a manager and it is nice to give something back to the London GAA. Like Mick O'Dwyer says, I live and breathe Gaelic football."

Roche, who has been playing football in England since 1963, also paid tribute to popular former Donegal player McDermott, whose two-year tenure as London manager won him many friends across Ireland. London, however, haven't won a championship game in the last decade.

"Tommy McDermott will be a hard act to follow, but I want to sit down with club managers and build a new spirit in the county. He lost 19 players between the summer and the winter last year so it will be hard to build some continuity in the team."

In Kilkenny, Brian Cody has agreed to stay on as manager of the hurling champions. Cody will be joined on the backroom team by Ger Henderson (Fenians) and Johnny Walsh (Shamrocks) who served as selectors with him over the past two years.

The ticket demand for the senior All-Ireland replay between Kerry and Galway on Sunday week is again expected to be high. With over 63,000 again set to fill Croke Park, the total attendance for this year's football championship will reach a record high. The final figure will be somewhere just short of 955,000.