Cork begin again with tried and trusted

Gaelic Games Team newsCork will begin the defence of their All-Ireland hurling title with all but one of the team that started last September's final.

All Star corner back Wayne Sherlock has, as expected, missed out on Sunday's Munster semi-final with Waterford because of the lingering effects of injury, and his place goes to the equally experienced Pat Mulcahy, a survivor of the 2003 final.

Opponents Waterford are otherwise facing the same team that beat Kilkenny 0-17 to 0-9 just over eight months ago - but Sunday's game is perhaps better viewed as a repeat of last year's Munster final, which Waterford won by a single point.

Still, there are only two changes from that Cork line-up, with forward Kieran Murphy replacing Garvan McCarthy, as well as the loss of Sherlock.

Manager John Allen, who took over from Donal O'Grady at the end of last year, hasn't even been tempted to make any positional switches, except that Mulcahy will start at left corner back, with Brian Murphy in the right corner.

Murphy played in the left corner against Kilkenny, while Mulcahy missed almost all the championship action last summer as he recovered from injuries sustained in a car accident. His only appearance last summer was as a substitute in the semi-final win over Wexford.

Waterford will finalise their team after training tomorrow. The injury concerns surrounding Paul Flynn and Ken McGrath remain, and Flynn seems most unlikely to start at this stage because of his knee injury.

His loss would be substantial and yet McGrath appears intent on starting despite his long lay off from a broken collarbone. It remains to be seen if Justin McCarthy will risk further damage that could rule him out for the season.

McGrath has never missed a championship match for Waterford since making his debut back in 1996, but, as he's been quick to remind everyone, there were four years during that time when Waterford had only one championship match each summer.

The Leinster hurling championship opens on Sunday when Dublin meet Laois in Nowlan Park in Kilkenny, with the winners being awarded a semi-final place against Wexford.

Dublin were due to name their team after training last night, but manager Humphrey Kelleher found himself with more injury problems than he'd reckoned on, and deferred naming until tomorrow night. Stephen Hiney, one of the more experienced defenders, is among those suddenly ruled doubtful.

In football, meanwhile, Sligo have named their team for Sunday's Connacht championship quarter-final meeting with Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Adrian Marren graduates from last year's under-21 side to take his place at right corner forward alongside the experienced Mark Brehony and Gerry McGowan. Brendan Egan comes back into the starting line-up at wing forward having spent a couple of years in London. John Martyn takes over at centre back from the injured Nigel Clancy, who hurt his shoulder at training a week ago and has failed to even make the substitutes' bench.

Meanwhile, Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has played down the suggestion that his side are enduring an uneasy countdown to Sunday's Ulster championship meeting with Down.

A combination of injuries and a dip in form over the past few weeks means that, for the first time in his three years as manager, Harte is going into the first round of the Ulster football championship with a reduced sense of expectation - which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Team captain Brian Dooher still appears unlikely to make it to the starting team in Omagh, but will continue to get intensive treatment on his ankle injury up until Sunday morning.

Brian Meenan is also carrying the after-effects of a virus. As a result, Harte is in no rush to finalise his team.

"We'll leave it until Thursday," Harte said yesterday. "Brian Dooher is obviously in a race against time to be fit, but we'll definitely be holding off on a decision as long as possible."

Harte confirmed that Peter Canavan would definitely be named among the substitutes, although it was "highly unlikely" that he'd start.

Down will also wait until later in the week before confirming their team, but manager Paddy O'Rourke has been buoyed up by the news captain Liam Doyle will be fit to start having recovered from a hamstring injury.

Midfielder Ambrose Rogers and forward Conor Laverty are among the recent Ulster under-21 winners in the running to make the starting line-up.

In hurling, both Offaly and Wexford have suffered major setbacks ahead of their Leinster semi-finals on June 12th.

Offaly's Niall Claffey has been ruled out of the meeting with Kilkenny after an x-ray yesterday revealed he had sustained a broken bone in his hand playing for Birr at the weekend.

Claffey is one of Offaly's most experienced defenders. He had been operating in Brian Whelahan's position at centre back during the league, where Offaly were successful in bouncing back from a shock defeat by Carlow to defeat the same county in the Division Two final.

Wexford also look set to start their semi-final against either Dublin or Laois without the services of former All Star full back Darragh Ryan, who is still carrying the effects of a recent knee cartilage operation, and appears unlikely to have sufficient fitness to line out in the Leinster championship.

CORK (SH v Waterford): D Og Cusack; B Murphy, D O'Sullivan, P Mulcahy; J Gardiner, R Curran, S Og O hAilpin; T Kenny, J O'Connor; B O'Connor, N McCarthy, T McCarthy; K Murphy, B Corcoran, J Deane.

SLIGO (SF v Leitrim): P Greene; P Naughton, N McGuire, B Phillips; D Durkin, J Martyn, J Davey; S Davey, E O'Hara; B Egan, J McPartland, B Curran; A Marren, M Brehony, G McGowan.