Cody's hand is forced by lengthy Kilkenny injury list

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has been forced to name a shadow team for Sunday's National Hurling League Division 1B meeting with Derry. Six changes have been made from last weekend's draw with Tipperary, with injuries ruling out Philip Larkin, Noel Hickey, Stephen Grehan and Canice Brennan.

John Power has been rested and John Barron has been dropped, while DJ Carey is likely to miss hurling for at least another month because of the rib injury that kept him out of the game against Tipperary.

Newcomer Sean Dowling, an All-Ireland under-21 medal winner two years ago, plays his first game at full back while Derek Lyng gets a start at half back. Further changes were made in attack, most notably in the full forward line where Tom Drennan and Jimmy Coogan line up alongside Charlie Carter.

Limerick will be without under21 players Paul O'Grady and Brian Geary for their game against Dublin at Parnell Park. Geary is recovering from facial injuries following a recent assault while O'Grady pulled a hamstring in the defeat by Galway at Ballinasloe.

Manager Eamonn Cregan has asked Dublin to bring the game forward by 24 hours to Saturday because of the proximity of their rearranged league fixture with Clare next Wednesday at the Gaelic Grounds.

Tipperary give two stalwarts - John Leahy and Declan Ryan - starting places in their team to play Cork at Thurles. Leahy came on as a substitute against Kilkenny last Sunday but this is the first time either has started in the current league. Conor Gleeson has also been recalled, at midfield. Although there is another double-bill of football and hurling league fixtures taking place, the emphasis is on the football where two of the four semi-final places have yet to be decided.

Offaly, who meet Tyrone in their final Division 1A game in Tullamore, have made two changes. Neville Coughlan has been omitted and his place at right half back will be filled by his Shamrocks club-mate Barry Mooney who came on as a substitute in last Sunday's draw with Roscommon. The other change is in attack where Brendan O'Brien is preferred to Roy Malone. Ciaran McManus is still injured and his place at midfield will again be taken by Ken Claffey.

An announcement will be made today concerning Louth's situation in Division 1A, where they have been unable to complete their fixtures because of the foot-and-mouth crisis. They are expected to face a relegation play-off against either Dublin or Kerry.

It is also expected that Tyrone will be awarded the two points for the game they didn't play against Louth, assuring them of a semi-final place from Division 1A, no matter what happens in their final game against Offaly.

Elsewhere, the problem surrounding Louth's participation in the All-Ireland Vocational Schools competition has been solved.

Having won their way through to the Leinster final, Louth were originally told that they were unable to compete against Offaly because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Offaly were nominated to play Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final last Friday, which they won, but it was decided yesterday that they must now play Louth for a place in the final, as well as the Leinster crown. That game takes place this afternoon in Mullingar (1.30).

"It managed to work out in the end," said Louth county board chairman Pat Toner. "But I don't know what we would have done if Mayo had won last Friday.

"We probably could have done with another week to prepare for this having been given such short notice but we're happy to get on with it now."

The Munster under-21 football final between holders Limerick and Cork has been switched yet again and will now be played in Kilmallock on Saturday, April 21st. The game was originally fixed for tomorrow but Cork called for a postponement as a number of their players will be involved with Nemo Rangers in Monday's All-Ireland club football final.

Limerick county board chairman Donal Fitzgibbon is considering making a request to both managements to delay the throw-in by at least one hour as it clashes with the televised European rugby cup semi-final between Munster and Stade Francais at Lille.

The football game is timed to start at 3.30 p.m. and the rugby match at 2 p.m..

Kilkenny (SH v Derry): J McGarry; M Kavanagh, S Dowling, D Grogan; D Lyng, E Kennedy, P Barry; A Cummins, P Mullally; A Geoghegan, H Shefflin, JP Corcoran; C Carter, T Drennan, J Coogan.

Limerick (SH v Dublin): T Houlihan; S McDonagh, TJ Ryan, D Reale; J Foley, M Foley, C Smith; M O'Brien, J Moran; D Stapleton, O Moran, M Keane; J Butler, B Begley, B Foley. Subs: A Shanahan, D Ryan, S O'Conner, J Meskell, D Stapleton, P Tobin, O O'Neill.

Tipperary (SH v Cork): B Cummins; T Costello, P Maher, P Ormonde; J Carroll, D Kennedy, P Kelly; C Gleeson, N Morris; M O'Leary, E Enright, J Leahy; L Cahill, D Ryan, E Kelly.

Offaly (SF v Tyrone): P Kelly; C Daly, G Rafferty, J Brady; B Mooney, B Malone, K Slattery; A McNamee, K Claffey; B O'Brien, M Keenaghan, P Kellaghan; D Ryan, S Grennan, V Claffey.

Westmeath (SF v Antrim): C Mullin; R Casey, D Mitchell, F Murray; D Gavin, D Healy, J Keane; D O'Shaughnessy, P Conway; B Morley, F Wilson, M Ennis; M Flannagan, D Dolan, G Heavin.