The 16th Man

Aidan O’Mahony and Darran O’Sullivan will deputise for the suspended Tomas O Se and Paul Galvin when Kerry meet Down in Saturday’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final.

The Croke Park clash (throw-in 2pm) will mark O’Mahony’s first involvement in the 2010 Championship. He quit the Kerry panel at the end of the National League for personal reasons, before returning last month.

The Rathmore clubman comes in for the sidelined O Se at wing back, linking up with Mike McCarthy and Killian Young in a formidable looking half-back line.

Micheal Quirke, an influential substitute in the Munster final win over Limerick, will start in midfield alongside Seamus Scanlon. Quirke has shaken off a calf injury to take over from Anthony Maher.

O’Sullivan, Kerry’s All-Ireland winning captain from last year, continues at right half-forward, with Colm Cooper, one of the Kingdom’s top scorer this summer with 1-20, listed at top of the right.

This is the counties’ first Championship meeting since 1991 when Down won an All-Ireland semi-final by 2-9 to 0-8 on the way to winning their first title since 1968.

Kerry have yet to lose a quarter-final fixture, having appeared in the last-eight of the All-Ireland Championship every year since the introduction of the qualifier system in 2001.

KERRY (SFC v Down): B Kealy; M O Se, T Griffin, T O’Sullivan; A O’Mahony, M McCarthy, K Young; S Scanlon, M Quirke; Darran O’Sullivan, Declan O’Sullivan, D Walsh; C Cooper, K Donaghy, B Sheehan (capt).

The 15 players who started for Roscommon in the recent Connacht final have kept their places for Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final duel with Cork.

There had been doubts about the fitness of goalkeeper Geoffrey Claffey (knee) and centre forward David O’Gara (back), but they look set to start the Croke Park encounter (throw-in 2pm).

Roscommon manager Fergal O’Donnell has kept faith with the side that secured the Nestor Cup with a 0-14 to 0-13 victory over Sligo.

He made four changes during that game, but Kevin Higgins, Colm Garvey, Jonathan Dunning and Paul Garvey have been kept in reserve once again.

Roscommon lost their two previous quarter-final matches, to Galway (2001) and Kerry (2003), and O’Donnell’s current crop really have nothing to lose this weekend.

“If you told me at the start of the year that we’d be Connacht champions and be preparing for an All-Ireland quarter-final, I would have taken that,” he told the Roscommon Herald.

“As I said after the Connacht final, we’re in bonus territory now and we’re looking forward to playing Cork. It’s a great chance for the players to test themselves against a top side.”

While admitting that it is ‘a tough draw’ for his side, O’Donnell says his charges are fully focused on putting in a big performance against the Rebels, having retured to training less than 24 hours after their memorable Connacht final win.

“We’re Connacht champions and we didn’t get there by chance. The team is coming along nicely,” he added.

“You could argue that Limerick could have beaten Cork last weekend. People would give us a chance against Limerick.

“Of course it’s a major ask but we must concentrate on our own game, just as we did in the Connacht final. We’re in a no lose situation.

“It’s a great situation to be in. No matter what happens at the weekend, we’ll still be Connacht champions. No one can take that away from us.”

ROSCOMMON (SFC v Cork): G Claffey; S McDermott, P Domican (capt), S Ormsby; S Purcell, C Dineen, D Casey; M Finneran, K Mannion; D Keenan, D O’Gara, C Cregg; J Rogers, D Shine, G Heneghan.

Cork manager Conor Counihan has opted to field an unchanged team for Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Roscommon.

There was much speculation that Counihan would alter his side after the sluggish extra-time victory over Limerick last week, but he has remained loyal to his starting line-up.

Noel O’Leary, Derek Kavanagh and Paul Kerrigan were brought in as late changes for the Limerick game, and the trio have retained their starting places for this weekend’s Croke Park clash (throw-in 2pm).

O’Leary will link up again with team captain Graham Canty and Paudie Kissane in the half-back line, supporting a midfield partnership of Kavanagh and Aidan Walsh.

Kerrigan gets the nod at right half-forward, with Donncha O’Connor, who kicked two points as a substitute against Limerick, and Fintan Goold among the attackers to miss out.

Nicholas Murphy and Alan O’Connor also have to be content with places on the bench.

The Rebels are bidding to maintain their 100% record in All-Ireland quarter-finals, having won all six of their previous fixtures in the last-eight of the All-Ireland Championship.

Cork won their first ever Championship meeting with Roscommon in the 1990 All-Ireland semi-final, claiming a 0-17 to 0-10 victory, but the Rossies evened thing up with a one-point first round qualifier success at Dr Hyde Park in 2003.

Speaking ahead of Cork’s fourth game in as many weeks, goalkeeper Alan Quirke said: “There’s no doubt about it, it’s going to be physically difficult because of all the football we’ve played over the last few weeks.

“But teams have managed to do it coming from the qualifiers in the past, so there’s no reason why we can’t do that.

“There were no real celebrations after the Limerick game. It was just an ice bath and a bit of grub and we had a good recovery session on Sunday.

“We have a good panel and that’s what we’ll need this weekend.

“To beat Limerick in their own ground is an achievement that we’re proud of. We’ve learnt a lot from these qualifier games - winning is a great habit to have and hopefully we can keep holding onto it,” he said.

CORK (SFC v Roscommon): A Quirke; R Carey, M Shields, J O’Sullivan; N O’Leary, G Canty (capt), P Kissane; D Kavanagh, A Walsh; P Kerrigan, P O’Neill, P Kelly; D Goulding, C Sheehan, C O’Neill.

Jim McGuinness was last night ratified as Donegal’s new senior football manager, after he had been nominated unopposed for the position.

Naomh Conaill’s David Kelch nominated McGuinness for the role and was seconded by Sean Dunnion of the Four Masters club.

McGuinness succeeds John Joe Doherty in the post, and has been appointed for a four-year term, with a review after two years.

The Glenties clubman will have U-21 selectors Peter McGinley and Pat Shovlin as part of his backroom team.

Maxi Curran will take care of video analysis, while the county development officer Michael McMenamin will act as his logistics officer.

McGuinness also expects to add one more person to his management team in the next few weeks.

‘Big Jim’ managed the Donegal U-21 footballers this year in their march to a first All-Ireland final in that grade since 1987.

The Ulster champions suffered a last-gasp defeat to Dublin at Kingspan Breffni Park in May, with Michael Murphy failing to convert a late penalty.

McGuinness will continue to manage the Donegal U-21 side next year, and it is expected that he will begin the process of putting together his squad for 2011 later this week.

“I will be having my first trial on Friday and am under no illusions as to the size of this job,” McGuinness told a County Board meeting last night.

“It’s a big job, but I want the players to come in and give nothing but 100%.

“That’s the minimum requirement but I’m looking forward to getting down to it right away.”

Donegal have become the first of the recently managerless counties to install their new man for next year’s campaign.

Mayo, Laois, Cavan and Fermanagh are all on the lookout for new senior football managers after exiting the All-Ireland Championship.

All-Ireland champions Kerry will help get next weekend’s quarter-final action underway, following confirmation of the fixture details from the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee.

All four SFC quarter-finals will take place at Croke Park, with two of the minor quarter-finals also fixed for GAA headquarters this coming weekend.

The first of the senior matches will take place on Saturday as Kerry, the recently-crowned Munster champions, face Down at 2pm, followed by the meeting of Ulster champions Tyrone and Dublin at 4pm.

Both of those fixtures are live on RTÉ television and form part of a triple bill of action, with the Tyrone and Kerry minors getting the day underway at 12pm.

Also on Saturday afternoon, Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon will stage two of the minor quarter-finals, with Connacht champions Mayo facing Offaly at 12.30pm, and Leinster winners Longford playing Galway at 2pm.

The fourth minor quarter-final kickstarts a mouthwatering triple bill of action at Croke Park on Sunday, with Cork and Armagh clashing at 12pm.

The Cork senior side, who overcame Limerick after extra-time last Saturday, will battle it out with Connacht champions Roscommon in a mouth-watering encounter at 2pm.

Meanwhile, the all-Leinster pairing of Meath, the Delaney Cup holders, and Kildare completes the weekend’s action at 4pm.

The referees have yet to be announced for this weekend’s games, while all fixtures will also have extra-time if necessary.

ALL-IRELAND SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER-FINALS:

Saturday, July 31 -

Kerry v Down, Croke Park, 2pm (live RTÉ)
Tyrone v Dublin, Croke Park, 4pm (live RTÉ)

Sunday, August 1 -

Roscommon v Cork, Croke Park, 2pm (live RTÉ)
Meath v Kildare, Croke Park, 4pm (live RTÉ)

ALL-IRELAND MINOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTER-FINALS:

Saturday, July 31 -

Tyrone v Kerry, Croke Park, 12pm
Mayo v Offaly, Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon, 12.30pm
Longford v Galway, Dr Hyde Park, Roscommon, 2pm

Sunday, August 1 -

Cork v Armagh, Croke Park, 12pm