Kerry v Tyrone (21 Sept)

ALL-IRELAND FINAL
Venue: Croke Park. Date: Sunday, 21 September. Throw-in: 1530 BST.
Coverage: Live: BBC2 NI, Radio Ulster MW and on the BBC NI website

John Devine heard the news after arriving in Dublin on Saturday

Tyrone goalkeeper John Devine has suffered a bereavement on the eve of Sunday's All-Ireland Football final after his father died on Saturday.

The expectation now is that the mourning keeper will miss the decider against Kerry with Pascal McConnell taking over in goals.

Third-choice keeper Johnny Curran is in line to move to the Tyrone bench.

Devine had already arrived at the team hotel in Dublin with the squad when he was informed of his father's death.

The player left Dublin to return home to Tyrone after hearing the news.

The build-up to the game has been dominated by speculation over whether Stephen O'Neill will start for Tyrone but all the machinations over team selection will be put into perspective by Saturday's sad news.

The Tyrone squad has had to deal with more than its fair share of tragedy over the years, notably Cormac McAnallen's sudden death in March 2004.

Sunday's game will go ahead but there is likely to be a minute silence to honour Mr Devine's memory prior to the throw-in.

On Thursday, Mickey Harte said that Stephen O'Neill would available for selection for Sunday's All-Ireland final despite not being included in Tyrone's 30-man panel.

O'Neill's name was surprisingly absent from the official team list released by the Red Hands on Thursday afternoon.

"Only 30 names could be submitted for the match programme but Stephen will be available and is very much part of the squad for Sunday," Harte told the BBC.

"He is a quality player and will be in action in the not too distant future."

"Stephen will be part of the team list on Sunday, his fitness levels are very high and Tyrone fans will see him in action very soon," added Harte, in a clear indication that the forward would play some part in the decider against Kerry at Croke Park.

Harte would not be drawn on whether O'Neill would start in Sunday's final.

O'Neill made a dramatic return to the panel a fortnight ago after holding discussions with manager Mickey Harte.

The only change from the win over Wexford is Brian McGuigan's inclusion in place of Martin Penrose.

After being a late call-up, Penrose was hugely impressive in the win over Wexford but he has to be content with a place in the subs with McGuigan return to the starting line-up.

There has been continuing speculation over McGuigan's fitness in recent days but he was named at centre half-forward in the selection released on Thursday afternoon.

There are also believed to be question marks over the fitness of Dermot Carlin, who has been named in the subs.

O'Neill was reported to be "flying" in training and his apparent omission was a huge shock.

The defence has a number of positional switches but the same six backs that started against Wexford have been selected.

606: DEBATE Give your thoughts on Stephen O'Neill apparent omission

The named 15 has Ryan McMenamin switching from centre half-back to corner-back with Conor Gormley named at number six.

Kerry named their team on Thursday's evening with full-forward Kieran Donaghy fit and in the starting line-up.

Donaghy missed training for around two weeks after the semi-final win over Cork because of a knee problem.

However, he is said to have trained without any ill-effects at the weekend.

Kerry's only major selection issue saw Eoin Brosnan edge out Paul Galvin for a place in the attack.

Kingdom skipper Galvin was available again after serving a three-man ban imposed after he knocked a notebook out of referee Paddy Russell's hands in the Munster SFC game against Clare on 15 June.

However, Brosnan is included in the half-forward line with Declan O'Sullivan and Bryan Sheehan.

Padraig Reidy saw off the challenge of Tommy Griffin to take the full-back berth.

Kerry: D Murphy, M O Se, T O'Sullivan, P Reidy, T O Se, A O'Mahony, K Young, D O Se, S Scanlon, B Sheehan, D O'Sullivan, E Brosnan, C Cooper, K Donaghy, T Walsh.
Subs: K Cremin, T Griffin, S O'Sullivan, D O'Sullivan, M Quirke, D Walsh, D Bohan, M F Russell, R O Flatharta, P O'Connor, K O'Leary, D Moran, P Galvin, A Maher, P Corridan, M Moloney, K Quirke, A O'Shea.