Tyrone name Dooher among substitutes

SPORTS DIGEST: Brian Dooher is set to make his first Tyrone appearance since last September' s All-Ireland final, when he led…

SPORTS DIGEST: Brian Dooher is set to make his first Tyrone appearance since last September' s All-Ireland final, when he led the county to Sam Maguire Cup glory.

Dooher is a surprise inclusion in the substitutes for Sunday's National Football League clash against Kerry in Omagh.

Manager Mickey Harte has made four changes. Ryan McMenamin and Sean Cavanagh were late withdrawals from the team that beat Monaghan last Sunday but have recovered from a leg injury and the flu respectively, and replace Dermot Carlin and Brian Meenan.

Pascal McConnell, who missed the last two games because of flu, replaces John Devine in goal, while Gavin Devlin comes in at centre back for Ciaran Gourley.

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TYRONE (SF v Kerry): P McConnell; R McMenamin, C Gormley, M McGee; D Harte, G Devlin, P Jordan; K Hughes, C Holmes; G Cavlan, B McGuigan, S Cavanagh; M Penrose, S O' Neill, O Mulligan.

OFFALY (SF v Monaghan) K Meehan; G Rafferty, S Sullivan, S Casey; K Lynam, S Brady, N Grennan; A McNamee, R Connor; N Coughlan, C McManus, L Mooney; T Deehan, P Kellaghan, N McNamee.

DERRY (SF v Down): B Gillis; F McEldowney, l K McCloy, SM Lockhart; P Cartin, J McBride, G O'Kane; F Doherty, J Diver; J O'Kane, E Muldoon, B McGoldrick; M Lynch,Paddy Bradley, E Bradley.

OFFALY (SH v Clare) B Mullins; B O'Meara, P Cleary, D Franks; K Brady, R Hanniffy, D Hoctor; G Hanniffy, A Hanrahan; D Hayden, M O'Hara, B Murphy; B Carroll, J Bergin, A Egan.

WATERFORD (SH v Down): C Hennessy; T Feeney, K Moran, D Coffey; B Phelan, K McGrath, E Murphy; M Walsh, D Bennett; D Shanahan, J Kennedy, E McGrath; J Mullane, S Prendergast, P Flynn.

Mount Mercy and Loreto Wexford, the Munster and South East cup holders, had the perfect start to the All-Ireland schools finals in Kilkenny yesterday, winning both their opening games, making it likely that today's meeting between the schools will be the tournament decider.

Cork's Mount Mercy, who last won the title in 1991 and were runners-up to Omagh Academy last year, began with wins over Royal School Armagh (2-0) and St Andrew's (4-1), while Wexford also beat Andrew's (2-1) before finishing the day with a 5-3 victory over tournament debutantes Our Lady's Bower of Athlone.

Ken Doherty, looking to complete an overseas double after securing the Malta Cup title last month, progressed with a 5-2 victory over Ricky Walden in the second round of the China snooker Open in Beijing.

The opening four frames were shared before Doherty, who claimed he was shivering with cold before the interval, warmed up literally and figuratively to seize command.

John Higgins cruised to a 5-0 win over an out-of-sorts Peter Ebdon. While Higgins had it easy, Stephen Lee booked his quarter-final place the hard way, squeezing past James Wattana 5-4.

Brian O'Driscoll has been named RBS Six Nations player of the championship after leading Ireland to the Triple Crown.

Fans were asked by the tournament's official website, www.rbs6nations.com, to select their dream team each weekend, and over 10,000 votes were cast for O'Driscoll throughout the championship.

Ireland are to face this year's Women's Rugby World Cup hosts, Canada , at the Sportsground in Galway on April 30th (2pm) in a World Cup warm-up.

Ireland are to face France, the United States and South Africa in the World Cup pool stages in Edmonton, Canada, from August 31st to September 17th.