JAMES MCCARTAN HAS handed Arthur McConville a first championship start when Down meet Fermanagh in Brewster Park this Sunday afternoon.
The Clonduff youngster impressed when given a chance during Down’s league campaign and will start the Ulster SFC quarter-final at full-forward alongside Conor Laverty and Conor Maginn.
Wing-forward Danny Hughes has recovered from a hamstring tear which ruled him out of the league semi-final defeat against Cork, but the Mournemen are missing the experienced heads of Dan Gordon and Benny Coulter who both remain on the injury list.
Fermanagh have injury problems of their own and full-back Barry Owens captains the side in the absence of regular skipper Ryan McCluskey. The defender was ruled out for at least 10 weeks after sustaining a sinus cavity fracture last week, and could miss the entirety of the Ulster championship should Peter Canavan’s men progress.
Fermanagh: Ronan Gallagher; Niall Bogue, Barry Owens (c), Niall McGovern; Damian Kelly, Brian Cox, Barry Mulrone; Shane Lyons, Eoin Donnelly; Daryl Keenan, Brian Óg Maguire;, Ryan Jones; Tomas Corrigan, Seamus Quigley, Shane McCabe.
Down: Brendan McVeigh; Daniel McCartan, Brendan McArdle, Darren O’Hagan; Aiden Branagan, Kevin McKernan, Conor Garvey; Ambrose Rogers, Kalum King; Daniel Hughes, Mark Poland, Aidan Carr; Conor Laverty, Arthur McConville, Conor Maginn.
