Kerry reinforce their own division

Kerry manager Paidi O Se is holding little in reserve for the resumption of the league

Kerry manager Paidi O Se is holding little in reserve for the resumption of the league. Sunday's meeting with Offaly will feature 11 of the side that won the All-Ireland title, reflecting his desire to gain the first win of the campaign and thus reduce the threat of relegation.

After seeing his watered down teams fall to Louth and Tyrone before the Christmas break, O Se will arrive in Tullamore with most of his key men back in their key positions.

Full back Seamus Moynihan returns for his first league game, as does wing back Tomas O Se, midfielder Darragh O Se, and full forward Dara O Cinneide. Most notable is the starting place for Maurice Fitzgerald at centre forward.

Having played the entire championship as Kerry's wonder substitute, and out the winter before with a leg injury, it will be his first competitive start since the Munster football final of 1999.

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Fitzgerald was originally selected to start against Louth for their opening game, but it then transpired that he was leaving for a holiday the same day.

The St Mary's forward has been back training with the panel for the last month while regular centre forward Liam Hassett, now training with the St Anne's club in Dublin, is named among the substitutes.

Also missing from the All-Ireland starting 15 is his brother Mike at corner back, along with half back Tom O'Sullivan and corner forward John Crowley. Mossie Lyons, Kieran Scanlon and Denis O'Dwyer take over the respective positions.

Dublin go into their meeting with Roscommon at Parnell Park tomorrow fielding a similarly strong side and in similar need of a win. Tom Carr welcomes back Dessie Farrell and Jason Sherlock from duties with Na Fianna prior to Christmas and gives them their first league game of the season.

A vacancy has been left at midfield and wing forward. It is expected that Darren Homan, who started both games before the break, will join Ciaran Whelan at midfield, while Enda Sheehy and Ken Darcy are both in contention for the forward position.

Ian Robertson is still carrying a minor leg injury and is named among the substitutes, while Jonathan Magee, Coman Coggins and Colin Moran - all part of last summer's championship side - also come back into the starting line-up after missing the last game against Offaly.

Wexford manager Ger Halligan has made some sweeping changes in the side to face Monaghan in Gorey tomorrow.

Five players are dropped from the team which fell to Meath in last Sunday's O'Byrne Cup semi-final, and in come Mark Carley, John Hegarty, under-21 players David Murphy and Redmond Barry, with Darragh Breen back from suspension.

A win here could move Wexford into one of the promotion positions in Division 2B, as the top two - Longford and Down - will be split when they meet in Newry on Sunday.

New Dublin hurling manager Kevin Fennelly has left vacancies at midfield and centre forward for the trip to Navan on Sunday in their opening hurling game against Meath.

But the big surprise is that Liam Walsh has been named among the substitutes. Walsh had earlier indicated to Fennelly that he was taking a year out of the game.

Offaly, as expected, have named a weakened side for their trip to Antrim. The Birr and Seir Kieran players are being rested ahead of the delayed county final and that brings some old faces back into the team, not least of all John Troy.

Jamesie O'Connor and Frank Lohan also return to the Clare team for the meeting with Galway at Ballinasloe, replacing the injured Brian McMahon and Brian Forde.

Meanwhile, UCD yesterday announced details of the Fitzgibbon and Ryan Cup finals, which will be hosted at the Belfield campus on the weekend of March 10-11th.

Sponsored by Bus Eireann, the semi-finals take place on the Saturday, with the final the following day to be covered live by TG4.

UCD play their opening game against the University of Limerick on Wednesday week. Waterford IT will be seeking a third successive title after beating UCD in last year's final.

TEAM CHECK

KERRY (SF v Offaly): D O'Keeffe; M McCarthy, S Moynihan, M Lyons; T O Se, E Fitzmaurice, K Scanlon; D O Se, D Daly; N Kennelly, M Fitzgerald, A Mac Gearailt; M F Russell, D O'Cinneide, D O'Dwyer. Subs: P O'Leary, E Galvin, T O'Sullivan, T Griffin, K Dillon, L Hassett, M Hassett, K Burns, B Sheehan.

DUBLIN (SF v Roscommon): D Byrne; M Cahill, P Christie, P Andrews; S Ryan, J Magee, C Goggins; C Whelan, AN Other; AN Other, J Sherlock, C Moran; D Farrell, V Murphy, W McCarthy. Subs: C Boyle, I Clarke, T Lynch, M Casey, N O'Donoghue, I Robertson, D Homan, E Sheehy, K Darcy, B Cahill, M Kennedy.

WEXFORD (SF v Monaghan): O Murphy; C Morris, P Wallace, D Redmond; D Murphy, D Breen, M Carley; J Berry, I Wickham; R Barry, M Mahon, T Howlin; P Forde, J Hegarty, M Forde. Subs: L O'Brien, F Wallace, M Gahan, E Doyle, E Newport, J Galavan, C Sunderland, E Galavan, D Kinsella, AN Other.

DUBLIN (SH v Meath): B McLoughlin; S Duignan, S Power, S Donnelly; D Wyse, D Spain, A de Paor; AN Other, L Ryan; T McGrane, AN Other, D Henry; D Donnelly, K O'Donoghue, K O'Flynn. Subs: D Maguire, C McCann, D Sweeney, G Ennis, S Perkins, E Carroll, F Armstrong, L Walsh, T Davis.

CLARE (SH v Galway): C O'Connor; L Doyle, B Lohan, B Quinn; R Woods, S McMahon, F Lohan; C Lynch, G Malone; T Carmody, D Forde, G Considine; A Markham, C Clancy, J O'Connor.

OFFALY (SH v Antrim): S Byrne; R Devery, J Ryan, M O'Hara; W Comerford, J Brady, M Hand; C Cassidy, G Oakley; D Murray, A Hanrahan, B Murphy; C Farrell, J Troy, C Gath.

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan is an Irish Times sports journalist writing on athletics