Boyle in as injury forces McManus to withdraw
ANTRIM’S John McManus will not feature when the Saffrons meet play-off contenders Roscommon tomorrow, after suffering a groin injury at training on Thursday night.
He will be replaced in the half forward line by Mickey Boyle of the Lamh Dhearg club.
This latest setback will increase pressure on the injury hit forward line with the absence of Aiden Donnelly and Joe Quinn already narrowing options for the management team.
Though out of the running for a quarter-final place Antrim will be looking for a good performance against Roscommon in order to restore some confidence after their defeat at the hands of 14-man Wicklow last time out.
CAVAN’S new management team have made numerous changes to the Breffni team to play Carlow in Dr Cullen Park tomorrow.
The changes are mostly enforced, although after a miserable start to Val Andrews reign in charge against Longford a fortnight ago, it seems likely switches would have been made anyway.
Injuries rule out full-forward Mark Leddy, goalkeeper Darragh McCarthy and wing-back Patrick Shiels who sustained a cheek injury in a challenge match victory over Galway last weekend.
Brendan McCormack comes in between the sticks for McCarthy, and Ciaran Brady’s unavailability this time round forces Terry Farrelly to move to full-back.
Cavan (v Carlow): B McCormack, R Galligan, T Farrelly, G Sheridan, A Forde, B Morris, R Rogers, P McKenna, P Smith, L Reilly, R Carolan, F O’Reilly, J Reilly, D McCabe, M Graham Subs: B Boyle, F Cahill, J Coffey, P Kermath, F O’Reilly, DM Reilly, J Crowe, M Leddy, C Kelly.
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SUPER sub William Farrelly grabbed a dramatic winner five minutes from the end of last night’s Under 18 Schoolboy’s International at Dungannon to get the Republic’s Celtic Cup campaign off to a winning start.
A pulsating end to an exciting contest saw Gordon Hillis stroke home a 79th minute penalty to equalise for Northern Ireland.
David Goldby had earlier given the Republic the lead with a back post header on 52 minutes. In the opening half, Russell Martin crafted a golden opportunity to put the north in front when his trickery earned him a penalty on 23 minutes, but the Newry Town youngster drove his spot kick wide.
And the home side were almost made to pay the price on the half hour.
Keeper Jonathan Gilbert had to produce a breathtaking save from a stunning Conor O’Grady volley.
Northern Ireland: Gilbert, Wilkinson, Lynch, Turley, McGarry, McCann, Kerr, Gilmore, Martin, Hillis, McCluskey. Sub: R McCluskey for K McCluskey Republic of Ireland: Madden, Conway, Boyle, Weldon, Robinson, O’Reilly, McGill, O’Grady, Gough, Goldby, Bolger. Subs: Farrelly for Conway, McConigley for O’Reilly.
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DES Tracey, the Mark Heagney club light welter, threw the best punch of the night when the National Senior Boxing Championships opened at the National Stadium last night.
Tracey was trailing to Dublin southpaw Glen Stephens of the Crumlin club when he unleashed a vicious left hook to Stephens’ head which not only stunned the Crumlin boxer but startled ringsiders.
Fortunately for Stephens he survived and in actual fact dismissed the punch as not being a great one afterwards.
“I was moving away from it,” he said but it looked quite different from the apron of the ring as Stephens glided backwards holding the ropes.
