{"id":358075,"date":"2026-03-21T16:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/358075\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T16:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:56:09","slug":"kerry-pick-five-star-line-up-for-armagh-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/358075\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerry pick five-star line-up for Armagh trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Clifford has been named in the Kerry starting XV as manager Jack O’Connor selects a strong side for their visit to Armagh in Round 7 of the Allianz Football League.<\/p>\n

Clifford sat out the trip to play Donegal in Ballyshannon in Round 2, sparking the theory that he would be rested for the two away games in Ulster. But the three-time Footballer of the Year has been included at full-forward for the away game at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, where Kerry can seal their spot in another Division 1 final.<\/p>\n

The starting team is unchanged from the side that devoured Mayo<\/a> in Austin Stack Park in a statement performance last weekend.<\/p>\n

It is a game which has implications at both ends of the table, with Armagh seeking to avoid relegation. Kieran McGeeney’s team put themselves in a position to avoid the drop with a comeback victory away to Dublin <\/a>last week, overhauling an 11-point deficit to win by two.<\/p>\n

However, a failure to win this weekend, combined with a Dublin win away to Galway in Pearse Stadium, would see the 2024 All-Ireland champions demoted to the second tier.<\/p>\n

Armagh are likewise unchanged as they seek to secure their first home win of the league and preserve their Division 1 status.<\/p>\n

Armagh: Blaine Hughes; Peter McGrane, Aaron McKay, Gareth Murphy; Ross McQuillan, Tiernan Kelly, Jarlath \u00d3g Burns; Callum O’Neill, Ben Crealey; Tom\u00e1s McCormack, Jason Duffy, Greg McCabe; Cian McConville, Darragh McMullan, Ois\u00edn Conaty.<\/p>\n

Kerry: Shane Murphy; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey; Tom O’Sullivan, Tadhg Morley, Armin Heinrich; Joe O\u2019Connor, Se\u00e1n O\u2019Brien; Cillian Trant, Se\u00e1n O\u2019Shea, Graham O\u2019Sullivan; Dylan Geaney, David Clifford, Keith Evans.<\/p>\n

Dublin manager Ger Brennan has been forced into one change for their pivotal away game in Galway, with the injured Luke Breathnach being replaced by Ciar\u00e1n Kilkenny.<\/p>\n

Breathnach had scored four points in the loss to Armagh but came off injured in the second half before the Dubs were reeled in. Eight-time All-Ireland winner Kilkenny, who came on for the final 20 minutes last weekend, has been named at corner-forward instead.<\/p>\n

\"17
\nCiar\u00e1n Kilkenny in action in Salthill last year<\/p>\n

The visitors know that a four-point victory will guarantee their safety, regardless of what transpires in the Athletic Grounds. A win of less than that margin and they will be waiting on Kerry to do them a favour in Armagh. Defeat will automatically relegate Dublin to Division 2 for the second time in the 2020s, with Armagh besting them on the head-to-head metric.<\/p>\n

Galway, by contrast, know that only a defeat of four points or more will relegate them to the second tier.<\/p>\n

Padraic Joyce’s side, who have been without many of their star names once again in the league, secured an eight point victory over Monaghan<\/a> in Inniskeen last weekend, though the concession of a goal and a point in the closing minutes had some implications for the score difference race this Sunday.<\/p>\n

They are unchanged from the team that won in Monaghan, with Paul Conroy, who came on to steady the ship with two second-half two-pointers, again held in reserve.<\/p>\n

Galway: Conor Flaherty; Johnny McGrath, Cian Hernon, Jack Glynn; Liam Silke, Dylan McHugh, Se\u00e1n Kelly; John Maher, Matthew Tierney; Shane McGrath, Ciar\u00e1n Mulhern, C\u00e9in D’Arcy; Rob Finnerty, Ois\u00edn Mac Donnacha, Liam \u00d3 Conghaile.<\/p>\n

Dublin: Hugh O’Sullivan; Eoin Murchan, Nathan Doran, David Byrne; Eoin Kennedy, Brian Howard, Alex Gavin; Peadar \u00d3 Cofaigh Byrne, Charlie McMorrow; Ross McGarry, Se\u00e1n Bugler, Niall Scully; Paddy Small, Killian McGinnis, Ciar\u00e1n Kilkenny.<\/p>\n

Kobe McDonald has been left off the Mayo squad for their final league game at home to Roscommon in Castlebar, following his involvement with the Under-20s this week.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 18-year old sensation lobbed over two points as Keith Higgins’ team edged out Sligo 0-17 to 0-15 in their Connacht opener on Wednesday, with fellow senior Darragh Beirne racking up 0-06, four coming from frees. Both players have been rested for Sunday’s clash with their neighbours.<\/p>\n

They are among a whopping eight changes in total from the side hammered in Tralee, with Jack Livingstone named in goal ahead of Rob Hennelly, Diarmuid Duffy replacing Donnacha McHugh at corner-back, with Michael Plunkett and Hugh O’Loughlin starting ahead of Diarmuid O’Connor and Conall Dawson in the half-back line.<\/p>\n

Seamus Howard is in for Bob Touhy at midfield, while the full-forward line is entirely changed, with Cian McHale, Aidan O’Shea and Paul Towey starting for Beirne, McDonald and Fergal Boland.<\/p>\n

Roscommon have also made eight changes to their named starting line-up in a match which is perceived as a likely dress rehearsal for a Connacht semi-final at the same venue in five weeks’ time.<\/p>\n

\"29
\nBen O’Carroll included in Roscommon’s team<\/p>\n

Man of the Match in the win over Donegal<\/a>, Enda Smith, is named on the bench, with Mark Dowd plumping for an entirely new half-forward line, with Paul Carey, Conor Hand and Ciaran Lennon all named to start. St Brigid’s Ben O’Carroll replaces Diarmuid Murtagh at corner-forward – the latter being held in reserve.<\/p>\n

Shane Cunnane is in for Keith Doyle at midfield, while Caelim Keogh and Robbie Dolan come into the half-back line with Colm Neary being redeployed at wing-back. Tim Lambe starts at corner-back in place of Patrick Gavin.<\/p>\n

The winners will have a chance at making a league final should either of Kerry or Donegal lose this weekend, though the likely Connacht encounter appears to be dominating the build-up.<\/p>\n

Mayo: Jack Livingstone; Jack Coyne, Rory Brickenden, Diarmuid Duffy; Sam Callinan, Michael Plunkett, Hugh O’Loughlin; Seamus Howard, David McBrien; Jack Carney, Ryan O\u2019Donoghue, Jordan Flynn; Cian McHale, Aidan O’Shea, Paul Towey.<\/p>\n

Roscommon: Conor Carroll; Tim Lambe, Eoin McCormack, Niall Higgins; Colm Neary, Caelim Keogh, Robbie Dolan; Shane Cunnane, Conor Ryan; Paul Carey, Conor Hand, Ciaran Lennon; Ben O’Carroll, Daire Cregg, Cathal Heneghan.<\/p>\n

Watch Allianz League Sunday from 9.35pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RT\u00c9 News app and on rte.ie\/sport. Listen to Sunday Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Clifford has been named in the Kerry starting XV as manager Jack O’Connor selects a strong side…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-358075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}