Familiar faces return but still no Canavan

News round-up: All-Ireland champions Tyrone have made three adjustments for Sunday's Ulster football quarter-final against Fermanagh.

Gone from the side that had a 11-point victory over Derry last month are forwards Brian Dooher and Enda McGinley, both forced out with injury, while defender Joe McMahon will get his first championship start in a straight swap with Brendan Donnelly.

It means Owen Mulligan and Stephen O'Neill come back into the starting line-up, playing at right- and left-half forward respectively.

O'Neill appeared as a late substitute in the win over Derry while Mulligan is back to full fitness after apparently drifting off the pace in recent weeks.

Yet the much-anticipated comeback of last year's captain Peter Canavan is once again put on hold.

Manager Mickey Harte admitted that Canavan has now returned to full training but that medical advice still points towards a mid-June appearance.

Even an appearance as a substitute in Clones has been dismissed as premature.

Doohar, who carries the captaincy for the summer, was ruled out with an ankle injury suffered in a club match last weekend, while McGinley has a broken bone in his left hand.

The captaincy for Sunday thus goes to corner back Ryan McMenamin. And McMahon in fact replaced Donnelly at half-time in the win over Derry.

Seán Kavanagh, man of the match the last day, is again partnered by Colin Holmes at midfield, while the successful positioning of Kevin Hughes at full forward is maintained.

Opponents Fermanagh have had some well documented internal problems in recent weeks and manager Charlie Mulgrew is not expected to confirm his starting line-up until tomorrow evening.

In Leinster, meanwhile, the Dublin team to play Westmeath in Croke Park will, as expected, be kept to themselves until throw-in time on Sunday.

A team will be announced for match programme purposes later in the week but manager Tommy Lyons insists only the players will know exactly who is starting where.

One position that does seem certain is the goalkeeper, with Brian Murphy set to start ahead of Paul Copeland.

Regular first choice Stephen Cluxton is serving a one-game ban arising from his dismissal against Armagh in last year's All-Ireland qualifiers.

Murphy actually assumed the goalkeeping duties after that sending off.

Westmeath manager Páidi Ó Sé will announce a team tomorrow, and with Rory O'Connell ruled out through suspension, Gary Dolan is expected to be moved to midfield, and either Shane Colleary or Paul Conway coming in at centre forward.

Also due to be announced later this evening is the Wexford team to play Kildare in the second Leinster football quarter-final, also at Croke Park.

In hurling news, meanwhile, the Leinster Council last night confirmed the venues and dates for the upcoming hurling championship fixtures.

The delayed Dublin-Westmeath quarter-final will go ahead on Sunday week, June 13th, and will be played as the curtain raiser to the Wexford-Kilkenny semi-final at Croke Park.

The winners of Dublin-Westmeath will then play Offaly in the other semi-final a week later, June 20th, with that game also being played at Croke Park and as the curtain-raiser to the Meath-Laois football semi-final.

Dublin chairman John Bailey had criticised such a tight fixture list, prompted by fears for Dublin's dual player Conal Keaney should Dublin advance. Yet the Leinster Council were left with little option having been forced to re-examine Westmeath's win over Kildare because of the substitution controversy.

"Obviously two weeks would have been ideal between the quarter-final and semi-final," explained Leinster chairman Nicky Brennan. "But we simply ran out of Sundays, and were cornered into this tight schedule."

There was also a strong word of advice for supporters heading to Croke Park for Sunday's football double-bill: advance purchase of tickets is highly recommended, and will be available from the Cusack Stand box office at Croke Park from Thursday to Saturday.

The Tipperary team to face Waterford in Sunday's Munster quarter-final will be announced at training this evening. Defender Lar Corbett is almost certainly ruled out with an ankle injury.

Waterford report no major injury scares and will announce their line-up tomorrow evening.

Elsewhere, Kerry forward Johnny Crowley is reported to be struggling to gain full fitness in time for the Munster semi-final showdown with Cork on Sunday week. Crowley injured knee ligaments in the quarter-final win over Clare, and hasn't played any practice football since. Should he fail to recover in time captain Dara Ó Cinnéide is likely to regain a starting place.

Finally, the GAA yesterday announced that O'Neill's Sports Company has been officially licensed to provide match balls for inter-county purposes. The O'Neills All-Ireland football has been used by the GAA since 1918, although the first white ball wasn't introduced until 1924.

TYRONE (SF v Fermanagh); J Devine; R McMenamin, C Gormley, C Gourley; J McMahon, G Devlin, P Jordan; C Holmes, S Cavanagh; O Mulligan, B McGuigan, S O'Neill; M Harte, K Hughes, C McCullagh.