Caffrey makes changes as Dublin look for a lift

DUBLIN MANAGER Paul Caffrey has made changes to every line ahead of Sunday's NFL Division Two meeting with Meath at Parnell Park…

DUBLIN MANAGER Paul Caffrey has made changes to every line ahead of Sunday's NFL Division Two meeting with Meath at Parnell Park.

Bryan Cullen reverts to his natural position of centre back as Paul Casey is the most notable defender to make way, with Paddy Andrews starting at corner back instead of Derek Murray.

Ciarán Whelan joins Eamonn Fennell in a powerful looking midfield while Tomás Quinn and Brendan McManamon are preferred to Kevin Bonner and Mark Vaughan in the forward line.

Dublin are attempting to recover from last weekend's comprehensive defeat to Armagh in Crossmaglen, a game that not only ended their unbeaten record but exposed several flaws in an evolving panel.

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"It was a very disappointing performance last Sunday," said wing back Colin Moran. "We were disappointed with the quality of the performance more than the defeat so we're looking to bounce back this weekend.

"Going back on the video of it there were a lot of individual basic errors, some very bad mistakes."

Moran contested the theory that the full back line was to blame despite Armagh's Steven McDonnell and Ronan Clarke combining for 2-7 of their team's 3-13 total.

"Part of the problem the last day was that we gave Armagh too much space out the field. Against any county team they're going to have two quality inside forwards as Armagh had. If you give the opposition the time to get quality ball in it doesn't matter who you have back there."

Meath will name a team today with Brian Farrell absent, while Anthony Moyles and Shane O'Rourke are struggling to regain fitness.

The Tipperary hurling team to play Galway in Sunday's National League final shows one change from the side that overcame Kilkenny, as Toomevara's Willie Ryan replaces Tommy Fitzgerald.

The only positional change sees Lar Corbett switch to full forward. Galway half forward Ger Farragher is a doubt for the match after sustaining a back injury in last weekend's win over Cork.

DUBLIN(SF v Meath): S Cluxton; D Henry R McConnell, P Andrews; C Moran (capt), B Cullen, G Brennan; C Whelan, E Fennell; B MacManamon, T Quinn, P Flynn; J Sherlock, C Keaney, B Brogan.

TIPPERARY(SH v Galway): B Cummins; E Buckley, P Curran, C O'Brien; E Corcoran, C O'Mahony, S Maher; B Dunne, Shane McGrath; S Butler, R O'Dwyer, J Woodlock; E Kelly (capt), L Corbett, W Ryan.

GALWAY(SH v Tipperary): J Skehill; C Dervan, T Regan, F Moore; A Cullinane, J Lee, S Kavanagh; K Hynes, R Murray; G Farragher, F Healy, N Healy; D Hayes, J Canning, I Tannian.

FERMANAGH(SF V Down): R Gallagher; N Bogue, S Lyons, D O'Reilly; D Kelly, R McCluskey, T McElroy; M Murphy, S McDermott; M Keenan, J Sherry, M Little; R Keenan, M McGrath, E Maguire.

Gavin Cummiskey

Gavin Cummiskey

Gavin Cummiskey is The Irish Times' Soccer Correspondent