Fanning likely to return for Tipperary

CONOR O'MAHONY will probably be named at centre back for Tipperary this evening ahead of the Munster hurling final against Clare this Sunday at the Gaelic Grounds.

One of the stand-out performers this season under the new management of Liam Sheedy, O'Mahony solved the troublesome number-six position for Tipperary but a recent shoulder injury means Declan Fanning is in line for a return to the starting line-up.

The county board can be fined €1,000 if a team leaves a position absent so O'Mahony should be selected with a final decision to be taken over the weekend.

Defender Diarmuid Fitzgerald is another serious concern due to a foot injury.

Clare manager Mike McNamara is also awaiting a positive medical report on Tony Griffin's hamstring and Gerry O'Grady's hand injuries but both men are expected to feature. Gerry Quinn is also set to replace Brendan Bulger in defence.

Dublin hurling manager Tommy Naughton has made two changes to the team that lost to Wexford in the Leinster hurling semi-final ahead of Saturday's qualifier against Cork.

Michael Carton is unavailable due to work commitments so Kevin Ryan comes in at full back with Stephen Hiney moving out to right-half back.

The other change sees Declan Qualter preferred ahead of John Kelly in the half-forward line. Philip Brennan (leg) and David Curtin (hamstring) were not deemed fit enough for selection.

DUBLIN (SH v Cork): G Maguire; N Corcoran, K Ryan, T Brady; S Hiney, R Fallon, J Boland; J McCaffrey, S Lambert; J Burke, D O'Dwyer, D Qualter; D O'Callaghan, K Flynn, R O'Carroll.

• With just 10 days to go to the Leinster football final, Brian Talty feels Bernard Brogan faces a race against time to make the Dublin starting line-up for the clash against Wexford.

The pacey attacker is still struggling to recover from the hamstring injury which forced him to retire early in the first half during the provincial semi-final against Westmeath on June 29th.

"As is generally the case with hamstrings, Bernard got back doing a bit of jogging pretty soon after the Westmeath game," explained team selector Talty.

"But he can still only manage jogging at half pace. He's been getting treatment from the physio as well, but I think his rate of improvement would have to substantially increase over the next week or so for Bernard to be in contention for a starting place for the Wexford game."