Darren Hughes will once again captain Ulster this Sunday when they take on Munster in the Interprovincial Football Championship Final at Armagh’s Athletic Grounds on Sunday. The Scotstown man will again anchor the Ulster defence from centre half-back and while he is the only Monaghan player named on the starting team by Joe Kernan, three of his county colleagues are also part of the 25-strong panel. One of those is his younger brother Kieran, while Clontibret’s Vincent Corey and Latton midfielder Owen Lennon are also hoping to be involved. Eight counties are represented on the panel, with Fermanagh again being the only exception. The Ulster team, which is unchanged from the convincing semi-final win against Connacht, shows Down withthe most starters (four) and Tyrone with the highest number of panel members (seven). Ulster will be attempting to win the competition for the 30th time and repeat their final victory over Munster when it was last played in 2009. Three players have been added to the Munster panel – Kerry defender Marc Ó Sé (whose brother Tomás is the team-captain), Cork midfielder Pearse O’Neill and Clare forward Rory Donnelly – to cover for absentees Seánie Buckley and Thomas O’Gorman.
Ulster team (v Munster): Brendan McVeigh (Down); Brendan Donaghy (Armagh), Neil McGee (Donegal), Karl Lacey (Donegal); Ciarán McKeever (Armagh), Darren Hughes (Capt., Monaghan), James Loughrey (Antrim); Dan Gordon (Down), Rory Kavanagh (Donegal); Peter Harte (Tyrone), Mark Poland (Down), Martin Penrose (Tyrone); Conleith Gilligan (Derry), Brendan Coulter (Down), Owen Mulligan (Tyrone).
Subs: John Devine, Cathal McCarron, Joe McMahon, Mark Donnelly (all Tyrone), Kieran Hughes, Vincent Corey, Owen Lennon (all Monaghan); Gearóid McKiernan, Ronan Flanagan (both Cavan); Tomás McCann (Antrim).
By michael Fri 24th Feb
