Wicklow have pulled a number of surprises out of the bag for this Sundays match with Carlow in Portlaoise. As expected Ciaran Hyland does not make it and Stephen Kelly is selected in the corner. Dara O’hAnnaidh will look to repeat his heroics of last year by not featuring in the league but starting in the Championship. The Bray Emmets clubman commutes back from Sweden for the clash where he is based for work. Darren Hayden has won the race with Stephen Canavan for the half back slot and Jacko Dalton will partner James Stafford in the middle of the park as expected. The half forward line shows a huge surprise with Nicky Mernagh from Rathnew starting at half forward. Terrace talk earlier in the year was rife that the strong forward was flying for his club and he has been rewarded for the form. Hannon and All Star nominee Glynn complete the half forward line and the The full forwards line out as they did with Odlum, Furlong and Earls leading attack. The “Flour” man Odlum has struggled for fitness all year but appears to have won the race to start.
WICKLOW (SF v Carlow) – M Travers; S Kelly, D O hAnnaidh, A Byrne; P McWalter, B McGrath, D Hayden; J Stafford, JP Dalton; L Glynn, T Hannon, N Mernagh; D Odlum, S Furlong, P Earls.
CARLOW (SF v Wicklow): J Clarke; P Murphy, L Murphy, B Kavanagh; A Curran, J Hayden, P McElligot; B Murphy, T Walsh; S Gannon, D Foley, M Carpenter, S Rea, J Murphy, J Kavanagh.
