Galway put Fahy back in front line

Ollie Fahy is back in the Galway team for Sunday's All-Ireland hurling qualifier against Tipperary at Pearse Stadium.

His reintroduction to the forward line in place of Cathal Moore is the sole change from the team that beat Clare in the previous round, although manager Conor Hayes has left two vacancies as he awaits fitness reports on Fergal Healy and Kevin Broderick.

Moore had struggled at centre forward in recent games for Galway, and in fact had been substituted by Fahy during the Clare match. For Sunday, however, Fahy will start at full forward, with Mark Kerins dropping back to centre forward.

Both Healy and Broderick are struggling with hamstring injuries but are expected to fill the wing back and corner forward positions respectively. In the meantime it appears increasingly likely that Eugene Cloonan will not see any championship action this summer.

Tipperary manager Michael Doyle will finalise his team tomorrow as he awaits the outcome of this evening's Munster under-21 semi-final, where five members of his panel are in action against Clare in Ennis. The players involved are Eoin Kelly, Martin Maher, John Devane, Eamon Ryan and Noel Fitzgerald, and the hope is that none will sustain injuries.

Already missing through injury will be Noel Morris and Eugene O'Neill, but it is almost certain that Eamonn Corcoran will return to the starting line-up for Sunday, as the 12-week suspension that ruled him out of championship games to date expires the previous midnight.

Corcoran should slot back into his wing-back position, giving Doyle the option of playing Benny Dunne, who held the position in the last game against Laois, somewhere in the forward line.

Limerick are in action in the other Munster under-21 semi-final this evening, taking on Cork at Páirc Uí Chaoimh as they look to capture a fourth successive All-Ireland title. Manager PJ O'Grady has made three changes in personnel - out go Raymond Hayes, John O'Connor and Donogh McCarthy and they are replaced by Derek O'Mahony, Thomas Carmody and Padraig Ryan.

Cork will have Setanta Ó hAilpín available despite earlier fears he would miss out after receiving a straight red card while playing for his club, Na Piarsaigh, last Saturday, but only a 12-week suspension would rule him out of any inter-county action.

In football, the Kerry management will wait until the end of the week before deciding if midfielder Darragh Ó Sé can play in Sunday's Munster final against Limerick. The ankle injury he sustained during the challenge game last Thursday has shown some improvement in the last couple of days.

An announcement on the line-up for Sunday - with the exception of Ó Sé's position - is expected later today. There had been some doubts last week over the fitness of team captain Declan Quill but he will definitely be available.

Quill's club, Kerins O'Rahilly's, have nominated Mike McCarthy of the Kilcummin club to take over as captain should Quill fail to make the starting line-up.

For Ó Sé, though, there will be a few more anxious days before knowing what role he will play in Killarney on Sunday.

"The problem right now is that we don't know how bad the ankle is until he runs flat out on it," explained Kerry selector and trainer John O'Keeffe. "And he just hasn't been able to do that yet.

"But we will definitely wait until the end of the week before we make any decision to play him or not. Unless of course the medics completely rule him out before then."

Limerick have a major injury concern of their own in that veteran midfielder John Quane has ongoing Achilles tendon trouble. While it has curtailed his training over the past few weeks, it is unlikely to rule him out for Sunday.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte has been able to select his first-choice midfield partnership for Sunday's Ulster football final against Down, with Cormac McAnallen and Seán Cavanagh both resuming after missing thewin over Antrim.

For Gerard Cavlan and Kevin Hughes, who played at midfield the last day, that means new positions in the forward line, with Cavlan named at corner forward, and Hughes at wing forward. Mark Harte, son of the manager, thus misses out on his place in the full-forward line, while Stephen O'Neill, who played at wing forward, also missing out because an ankle injury.

The defence, however, is unchanged, and team captain Peter Canavan will again lead the attack alongside Owen Mulligan.

In other news, Roscommon manager Tom Carr has denied reports that the three players dropped from his panel last week for disciplinary reasons were all invited back to training last night. The players involved, wing back Paul Noone and other panel members John Nolan and David O'Connor, played no part in last Saturday's dramatic win over Offaly.

"The situation at the moment is that we will sit down during the week to see if things can be resolved," said Carr. "But it's not a matter of the three players walking back in after the weekend."

GALWAY (SH v Tipperary): L Donoghue; D Joyce, L Hodgins, O Canning; AN Other, T Regan, D O'Brien; J Conroy, R Murray; R Gantley, M Kerins, D Tierney; D Hayes, O Fahy, AN Other.

TYRONE (SF v Down): J Devine; C Lawn, C Holmes, R McMenamin; C Gormley, D McCrossan, P Jordan; C McAnallen, S Cavanagh; B Dooher, B McGuigan, K Hughes; G Cavlan, P Canavan, O Mulligan.

LIMERICK (Under-21H v Cork): T Houlihan; D O'Mahony, P O'Dwyer, M Clifford; G Heageney, E Foley, M O'Brien; N Moran, P Tobin; T Carmody, P Ryan, P Kirby; A O'Shaughnessy, B Geoghegan, B Murray.