Cork to blood three in Dublin game

JOHN GARDINER will captain the Cork hurlers in the 2008 championship. The Na Piarsaigh defender was selected by Gerald McCarthy and his management team at training last night when they also announced the side to play Dublin in their first match of the National Hurling League.

A couple of unfamiliar faces are included as Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Ben and Jerry O'Connor, Brian Murphy and Niall McCarthy nurse minor injuries. Eoghan Cadogan, Brian Corry and Pat Horgan are the new panel members to come straight into the team.

Pádraig O'Driscoll and Alan McCrabbe are Dublin's big injury concerns; neither is expected to feature at Parnell Park.

Meanwhile, Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) chairman Jimmy Dunne has ruled out rescheduling the throw-in (2.30pm) for Antrim's National Hurling League Division One A match against Waterford in Dungarvan this Sunday.

Antrim requested a 1pm start, which Waterford and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) supported, to accommodate players making a 570-mile round trip.

"Having already made representations, we again call on the CCCC, at this late stage, to reverse their decision and grant Antrim an earlier throw-in time," read a GPA statement.

Dunne's reply was unequivocal: "We've had a situation where about seven counties have applied for times changes. We have consistently said no to them at all times. If we keep changing the time we won't know where we are at. Everyone knows what time the league is at. That's it.

"We have sympathy for Antrim and the journey they must undertake, but we put a mechanism in place (last October) for them to come back with any concerns. That didn't happen."

Dunne added Antrim had already been allowed a time change for their game with Wexford.

Antrim County Board chairman Dr John McSparron expressed anger: "We cannot understand the intransigence of the CCCC to accommodate amateur players and Antrim supporters with this simple request . . . The initial request to change the throw-in time for this match was submitted over a week ago."

CORK (SH v Dublin): D Óg Cusack; S O'Neill, D O'Sullivan, C O'Connor; E Cadogan, J Gardiner (capt), C McGann; J Barrett, T Kenny; K Murphy, B Corry, T McCarthy; P Horgan, N Ronan, P Cronan.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times