The Derry team named last night for Sunday's All-Ireland football semi-final remains unchanged for the third successive time this summer.
It means the same 15 who beat Cavan in the fourth-round qualifier series and then beat Tyrone in the quarter-final earlier this month will face Galway in Croke Park.
With the entire panel free from injury, manager Eamonn Coleman had indicated earlier this week that change was unlikely but such consistency within a Derry team is still a relatively new trend. Yet it indicates that Coleman is confident of his winning formula, part of which has come from the emergence of younger players. At 19, midfielder Fergal Doherty is the least experienced but there is similar youth elsewhere.
Further evidence of Coleman's satisfaction comes with the fact that there is only one change in the substitutes. Niall McCusker, back from injury, is on the bench where is joined by Dermot Heaney.
In other team news, Limerick have left a vacancy at corner forward for their All-Ireland under-21 hurling semi-final against Galway in Ennis tomorrow evening. The hope there is that forward Mark Keane will be fit to start despite having a cast removed from his ankle just days ago.
Keane has been sidelined since the reigning champions beat Tipperary in the Munster final and although his training has been greatly limited, it is still hoped that he can play some role. Eugene Mulcahy returns from suspension to take his place in the defence, with Kieran Birmingham the man to lose out.
Meanwhile, final confirmation of Bertie ╙g Murphy's appointment as the new Cork senior hurling manager is expected within the next week. A former manager of the under-21 side, he worked as a selector this year with Tom Cashman, who reigned for one year after Jimmy Barry- Murphy stepped down.
DERRY (SF v Galway): O McCloskey; G Doherty, SM Lockhart, K McCloy; C McNally, G Coleman, F Crossan; A Tohill, F Doherty; P McFlynn, D Dougan, J McBride; P Bradley, E Muldoon, G Diamond.
LIMERICK (Under-21 hurling v Galway): T Houlihan; D Reale, B Carroll, E Mulcahy; M O'Riordan, B Geary, M O'Brien; S Lucey, P Lawlor; E Foley, K Tobin, P Tobin; C Fitzgerald, N Moran, AN Other.
