Mulligan to get his start for Dublin

Dublin will start their National Football League showdown with Roscommon with a notably remodelled team from that which fell to Cork a fortnight ago. There are six changes in personnel as well as one positional switch, including the first league start for Tom Mulligan at right-corner forward.

Manager Tommy Lyons admitted last night there was no denying the threat of relegation that surrounds Sunday's game. With only two wins from five games, and the next-to-worst points-difference, Dublin need to win.

"If we lose again then the threat of relegation is very real," said Lyons, "and if we win it's not so real. All we can do is go down there and try to win, like we've been doing all along.

"The truth is we have gone out so far to win every game, only in some games we performed very poorly, and in some games we performed very well. So for me it's simply another matter of trying to put together a winning performance."

As expected, Jason Sherlock and Alan Brogan are ruled out with injury. Stephen Cluxton returns between the posts instead of Bryan Murphy, while Paul Griffin replaces Peader Andrews at left-corner back. Johnny Magee moves from midfield to centre back (at the expense of Declan Cahill), with brother Darren starting at midfield.

In the forward line, Shane Ryan takes over from Colin Moran, and Tomás Quinn from Johnny McNally, while Mulligan, who made a brief appearance in the championship last summer during the Leinster quarter-final with Wexford, comes in for Sherlock.

A victory would leave Tom Carr's men in contention for a semi-final place.

Elsewhere, Kerry have handed their full back position to Tomás Ó Sé, with Seamus Moynihan and Barry O'Shea both injured, for Sunday's meeting with Tyrone in Killarney. Eamonn Fitzmaurice takes over at centre back, while Colm Cooper returns from suspension to play at left-corner forward.

Their opponents welcome back midfielder Cormac McAnallen for his first league start. Stephen O'Neill also returns to the forward line. A win for either team would also keep them in contention for the semi-finals.

In hurling, Galway manager Conor Hayes has lost goalkeeper Damien Howe and midfielder Gordon Glynn, who both dropped out of the panel earlier this week, ahead of Sunday's meeting with Waterford at Pearse Stadium.

Sunday's loss to Clare saw 30-year-old Howe's errors twice result in goals, and he was replaced by Liam Donoghue for the second half.

Glynn started in Galway's opening league match against Dublin but was also replaced in the second half, and, like Howe, he found that without a starting place the level of commitment demanded was simply too high.

Waterford make five changes from the team that lost to Dublin last week, with manager Justin McCarthy recalling goalkeeper Stephen Brenner and defenders Brian Green and Brian Flannery.

Dan Shannan also starts at wing forward, as does Paul Flynn at corner forward in what will be his first league match this season.

Wexford, who face a crunch game against Limerick, have made nine changes, including dropping Mitch Jordan and Barry Lambert and recalling Dave Guiney and Rory McCarthy.

Meanwhile, the colleges' provincial finals continue on Sunday with the Munster senior football decider, also known as the Murray Cup, involving holders Coláiste na Sceilge against Tralee CBS. Throw-in in Killarney is 3.0.

DUBLIN (SF v Roscommon): S Cluxton; D Henry, P Christie, P Griffin; P Casey, J Magee, C Goggins; C Whelan, D Magee; S Ryan, B Cullen, S Connell; T Mulligan, R Cosgrove, T Quinn.

KERRY (SF v Tyrone): D O'Keeffe; M Ó Sé, T Ó Sé, M Lyons; T O'Sullivan, E Fitzmaurice, J Sheehan; D Ó Sé, D Daly; L Hassett, E Brosnan, P Galvin; D Quill, D O'Sullivan, C Cooper.

TYRONE (SF v Kerry): P McConnell; R McMenamin, C Holmes, M McGee; C Gormley, G Devlin, P Jordan; C McAnallen, S Cavanagh; S Mulgrew, B McGuigan, S O'Neill; B Dooher, P Canavan, O Mulligan.

WEXFORD (SH v Limerick): D Fitzhenry; D Guiney, D O'Connor, R Mallon; K Furlong, L Dunne, K Rossiter; A Fenlon, R McCarthy; T Kelly, D Berry, B Goff; P Codd, A O'Leary, C McGrath.

CORK (SH v Offaly): P Morrissey; W Sherlock, P Mulcahy, M Prendergast; J Gardiner, R Curran, S Óg Ó hAilpin; J Barrett, P Tierney; N McCarthy, M Morrissey, E Fitzgerald; S McGrath, J Deane, A Browne.

WESTMEATH (SF v Offaly): A Lennon; D Healy, D Mitchell, K Henson; B Morley, D Gavin, D Kilmartin; R O'Connell, M Flanagan; F Wilson, S Colleary, A Mangan; C Whyte, G Dolan, JP Casey.

CLARE (SH v Kilkenny): D Fitzgerald; C Harrison, B Lohan, F Lohan; C Plunkett, S McMahon, G Quinn; C Lynch, J O'Connor; T Griffin, T Carmody, A Markham; N Gilligan, F Lynch, B Murphy.

KILDARE (SF v Down) C Byrne; B Lacey, R Quinn, A McLoughlin; D Lyons, D Hendy, A Rainbow; A Barry, M Wright; K Ennis, G Ryan, R Sweeney; T Fennin, D McCormack, J Doyle.