New role for McCarthy

Cork have named a former wing forward at fullback for their McGrath Cup match against Kerry in Killarney on Sunday.

Ronan McCarthy has already figured at left half forward in the Cork side but is now drawn back into the heart of the defence in place of Mark O'Connor who is injured.

Cork also give a debut to goalkeeper Des McAuley from Bantry who replaces Michael Maguire.

Cork welcome back Liam Honohan at midfield in what represents a strong lineout and suggests they are taking the McGrath Cup seriously.

Matches between Cork and Kerry always contain an element of rivalry and it is interesting to note that the Kerry manager, Paidi O Se, has picked the strongest team available to him. Yesterday he said he had a number of injury problems but was happy to have Maurice Fitzgerald back in action. "We had a bit of a shock last weekend when Limerick beat us by 1-6 to 05 but we now are in a situation to field the strongest team available to us at the moment.

"Pa Laide is recovering from an operation and will be out for some time. Eamonn Breen is also injured as is Eamonn Fitzmaurice, Noel Kennelly, Dara O Cinneide and John McGlynn but we have a fairly strong side in spite of that.

"Maurice played for a half hour last Sunday in a friendly match against Cork. We lost that two but Maurice is anxious to get back into full-scale matches in order to sharpen up for the resumption of the National League. When we get the other lads fit again we should be able to field a very strong team for the rest of the league and, of course, the championship.

"We have a lot of hard work to do in the meantime but we will be determined to beat Cork in Killarney on Sunday and make sure that we go on to the National League with a good attitude and concentrate on getting the panel to full fitness," he said.

Kerry include newcomer Chris Drummond at left corner back in the side to face Cork. Drummond, from Sneem, makes his debut after a series of good performances for his club and is regarded as a player who could well have a bright future.

Dublin, who play Westmeath on Saturday in the O'Byrne Cup semi-final at Parnell Park, will not name their line-out until just before the throw-in. Paddy Christie, Ian Robertson and Paul Croft are not fully fit and a deputy will have to be found also for goalkeeper David Byrne.

Eire Og from Carlow and Kilmacud Crokes from Dublin, who meet in the second replay of the Leinster club championship in Newbridge on Sunday will not name their teams until later in the week. After two draws there is little that the teams don't know about each other but public interest is enormous and a crowd of 10,000 is expected.

Kerry (SF v Cork): D O'Keeffe; M McCarthy, B O'Shea, C Drummond; T O Se, S Moynihan, M Hasset; D O Se, W Kirby; A MacGerailt, L Hassett, D Daly; G Murphy, J Crowley, M Fitzgerald. Subs: P O'Leary, J McGlynn, K Burns, J Ferriter, J O'Shea, T McKenna, B O'Shea, O O'Sullivan, R MacGerailt.

Cork (SF v Kerry): D McAuley; M O'Donovan, R McCarthy, A Lynch; D Wiseman, S O'Brien, M Cronin; L Honohan, N Murphy; A Dorgan, P O'Mahopney, F Collins; P Clifford, J Kavanagh, A O'Regan.