I’ve been away for the last few days on a work thing and I’m about to set off again shortly on a family-related mid-term jaunt but before I do it’s worth mentioning that the semi-finals of the revived Railway Cup competitions (aka the M Donnelly Interprovincial Championships) take place this weekend. Connacht are paired against Ulster with their semi-final down for decision at Markievicz Park, Sligo, this coming Sunday where throw-in is set for 2pm.

The Connacht side contains five Mayo lads with four from Roscommon, three from Galway, two from Sligo and one from Leitrim. (There’s a bit of a pattern going on there in case you haven’t noticed: the next in the series is 0, which is the number of London representatives on the side). Our five are Donal Vaughan at 6, Seamus O’Shea at 9, Kevin McLoughlin at 10, Alan Dillon at 12 and Conor Mortimer at 13. We’ve also got Lee Keegan, Barry Moran and Michael Conroy listed among the subs.

The Connacht team will be managed by Roscommon’s Feargal O’Donnell, aided and abetted by Galway’s Sean Óg de Paor and our own Noel Connelly.

Here are the details of the team and subs named for Saturday’s semi-final:

Connacht (Interprovincial Football Championship Semi-Final v Ulster, 19/2/2012): Geoffrey Claffey (Roscommon); Sean McDermott (Roscommon), Finian Hanley (Galway), Charlie Harrison (Sligo); Garreth Bradshaw (Galway), Donal Vaughan (Mayo), Wayne McKeon (Leitrim); Michael Finneran (Roscommon), Seamus O’Shea (Mayo); Kevin McLoughlin (Mayo), Donie Shine (Roscommon), Alan Dillon (Mayo); Conor Mortimer (Mayo), Adrian Marren (Sligo), Nicky Joyce (Galway). Subs: Cathal McCrann (Leitrim), Ross Donovan (Sligo), Johnny Davey (Sligo), Lee Keegan (Mayo), David Keenan (Roscommon), Gary Sice (Galway), Seán Purcell (Roscommon), Paddy Maguire (Leitrim), Tom Flynn (Galway), Kevin Higgins (Roscommon), Mark Breheny (Sligo), Brendan Egan (Sligo), Paul Conroy (Galway), Fintán Ó Curraoin (Galway), Barry Moran (Mayo), Michael Conroy (Mayo).

By the way, the Ulster team (which will be managed by Joe Kernan) that was named the other day is as follows:

Ulster (Interprovincial Football Championship Semi-Final v Connacht, 19/2/2012): Brendan McVeigh (Down); Brendan Donaghy (Armagh), Neil Magee (Donegal), Karl Lacey (Donegal); Ciarán McKeever (Armagh), Darren Hughes (Monaghan) (capt), James Loughery (Antrim); Dan Gordon (Down), Rory Kavanagh (Donegal); Danny Hughes (Down), Mark Poland (Down), Peter Harte (Tyrone); Martin Penrose (Tyrone), Benny Coulter (Down), Owen Mulligan (Tyrone). Subs: John Devine (Tyrone), Joe McMahon (Tyrone), Cathal McCarron (Tyrone), Thomas McCann (Antrim), Vincent Corey (Monaghan), Owen Lennon (Monaghan), Paul Finlay (Monaghan), Conleith Gilligan (Derry), Ciarán Hughes (Monaghan).

According to this report in Hogan Stand, however, there’s likely to be at least one change to the Ulster team by the time they line out on Sunday, as Down’s forward Danny Hughes has already cried off due to injury.