CAVAN fairly ring the changes for Sunday's Ulster senior football championship semi final meeting with Down at Clones.

Corner back Phil Kermath and corner forward Larry Reilly are the only two players dropped since the match with Antrim, but the positional switches are somewhat bewildering for this stage of the campaign.

Since playing such a prominent midfield role in the county's great under 21 success over Derry recently, Dermot McCabe's switch from the half forward line to midfield, where he joins Stephen King, comes as no surprise.

Bernard Morris takes over at right corner back instead of Kermath, and Adrian Lambe relieves Larry Reilly of the right corner forward spot. The signs were ominous for Reilly when he was replaced in the Antrim match by Finbar Crowe.

Peter Reilly moves in to lead the attack on the 40, with Anthony Forde moving to the right wing. Gerry Sheridan goes from left corner back to right half back and Ciarain Brady moves back from centre half back to left corner.

Meanwhile, the Derry football management are to meet within the next couple of weeks to discuss the consequences of last Sunday's successive Ulster semi final defeat by Tyrone and the future of the back room team.

The vibes are that the county board wish the management to carry on, and nobody has suggested resignations.

Selector Frank Kearney said yesterday. We have decided to meet and discuss the pros and cons and access our own position."

Local bookmakers in Laois don't expect their county team to put up much of a show against Meath in Sunday's Leinster senior football semi final. They quote Laois at 9 to 4, and Meath redhot, 3 to 1 on favourites.

Dual star Cyril Duggan, however, is the real favourite, at this stage, to fill the vacant right corner back position when the Laois selectors assemble tomorrow evening.