'Gooch' and his team-mates won both the league and the All-Ireland in 2009, though began this year's NFL Division 1 campaign with losses to Dublin and Cork.

However, they have since bounced back with victories over Derry and Galway and Cooper wants their run of victories to continue against Mayo this weekend.

The prolific forward did not play in the two losses but scored a goal against the Tribesmen as he accounted for 1-12 over the two wins. He now hopes Kerry can push on and challenge the Dubs, Cork and their next opponents Mayo for a place in the final.

"I've been lucky enough to play in a couple of league finals and win a couple of finals," Cooper was quoted as saying by the Irish Independent.

"It doesn't always work like that, but if you look back on teams that have won All-Irelands they've always done well in the league, and that's something we want to continue.

"We've always had very tough games with Mayo, be it in Castlebar or Tralee, but if we can get a win over them next weekend, we'll be in good shape."

As for his own season to date, the Dr Croke's man added: "I suppose I haven't too many games played but every game is going to bring you on a little bit more in sharpness and fitness-wise.

Kilkenny's Ballyhale Shamrocks and Portumna of Galway face off as regular finalists at this stage of the hurling championship, while the clash of Antrim's St Gall's and Kilmurry-Ibrickane is a little more novel in the football competition.

Either way, after seeing delays at turnstiles in recent years on St Patrick's Day, the GAA want fans to take advantage of the pre-match discounts available until midnight on Tuesday, as well as the wide range of outlets at which tickets are now available.

"We would really urge anyone coming to Croke Park on Wednesday to try and purchase they tickets in advance," GAA press officer Alan Milton said in the Irish Times. "We've put on a number of additional outlets to cater for this in the best way we can, plus there is great value now, with the discounted price still available up until midnight Tuesday. We've also had a strong advertising campaign around this.

"Also, originally the plan was to reduce the discount as the game got closer, but it was decided instead to keep the discount at 40 per cent right up until the night before. We will also be providing a number of additional outlets on the day, but these are the last resort, as it is in everyone's best interest to purchase tickets in advance. We've had some criticism in the past about delays in the getting tickets on the day, but there will be no excuses this time.

"If it's a good day, you're still going to get quite a few people coming up to the ground on the day. But the value and opportunity to purchase tickets in advance is there now."

The Division 1 victory over previously perfect Cork gave the O'Neill County their first two points of the season after three straight defeats, Colm Cavanagh, Tommy McGuigan and Ryan Mellon all bagging goals in the 3-9 to 0-16 success in Omagh.

Having seen his side beaten by Derry, Mayo and Monaghan the win was quite a relief for Harte - who was also beaten by the first appearance of Sean Cavanagh in seven months.

"Goals are very important in games," Harte was quoted as saying by the Irish Times.

"Colm Cavanagh tucked his away lovely and that gave us a real lift.

"And then getting another goal before half-time. We probably didn't believe the position we were (in) at half-time, given how we were five or six minutes before it.

"But that's what persistence is about, and there's a great belief in these men. I said that last week, and people maybe laughed at me. I said we were good enough to get out of here (relegation zone).

"And this was a tall order, you're playing the table-toppers, and they have had a good record against us in recent times. But that was an important win in many ways, more than the two points.

"So it's a case of a job well done, a lot more to be done, and we need to build on that performance, we can't rest on it."

The gifted Caltra clubman was forced off in Sunday’s National Football League Division 1 loss to Kerry and the initial prognosis suggests that he has damaged both lateral and cruciate ligaments.

However, an MRI scan on Monday will determine the exact extent of the knock that the player sustained in the 2-16 to 1-9 loss to the Kingdom at Pearse Stadium.

Meehan’s injury was the turning point as Galway led early on, helped by 1-4 from the attacker. However, after he was forced off in the first half the tide turned dramatically with key Kingdom players Declan O’Sullivan and Colm Cooper notching second half goals.

Galway boss Joe Kernan said of his injured talisman in the Irish Independent: “We won't know that until he gets an MRI, but Michael's injury is nearly worse than the result because it's another class player out for a while."

As for summing up the game, the former Armagh native said regretfully: “Boys against men.”

The dual player played in the Deise’s recent National Hurling League Division 1 defeat to Galway and football manger John Owens had been expected to have to do without him for all of 2010.

But Hurney has now revised his plans and after drifting between both codes since 2008 has decided to drop out of the hurling frame.

The Waterford hurlers have won two of their opening three NHL games against Dublin and Limerick, while the footballers are level on points at the top of Division 4 with Wicklow and Clare.

Fellow dual player Stephen Walsh looks set to remain with the hurlers, however.

Former Cork manager Larry Tompkins believes James Masters should reconsider his decision to quit inter-county football.

Tompkins believes the best is still to come from the Nemo Rangers forward and that Conor Counihan and his management team should be doing everything in their power to get him back on board.

"To be honest if I was the Cork management I would be doing everything I could to get him to change his mind because I believe he hasn't peaked yet," Tompkins told the Irish Daily Mirror.

"He still has an awful lot to offer. I would certainly hope he reconsiders because I believe any county would want him to be part of their plans.

"You would hope that he would change his mind but the longer he is out of the inter-county frame the more difficult it would be for him to get back into it."

Nicholas Murphy is back in the Cork line-up for their Allianz NFL Division 1 tie against bottom side Tyrone at Healy Park in Omagh on Saturday evening.

The All-Star missed last weekend's two point victory over Galway through injury but he has made a full return to fitness.

The 32-year-old Murphy will line out at full forward for the Rebels, with Colm O'Neill moving to left corner forward.

Paul Kerrigan comes in at right half forward, replacing Paul O'Flynn.

CORK (SF v Tyrone): K O'Halloran; R Carey, M Shields, E Cotter; P Kissane, G Spillane, N O'Leary; A O'Connor, P O'Neill; P Kerrigan, D O'Connor, P Kelly; D Goulding, N Murphy, C O'Neill.

Conor Counihan will be unable to call on the services of James Masters for the foreseeable future after the Nemo Rangers forward withdrew himself from the Cork football panel.

The 27-year-old attacker cited the lack of game time he has been afforded this season as the reason behind his decision.

"James is no longer a part of the panel," Counihan said.

"He informed me that he wanted to step out of the squad and I respect his decision."

Some reports have suggested that Masters' club-mates Sean O'Brien and Conor McCarthy were also no longer involved in the Rebels' set-up.

However, the Cork boss said: "There are people coming in and out of the squad at the moment and they haven't been finalised."

The news of Masters' departure comes as a blow to the Rebels, who are the pacesetters in Division One of the Allianz NFL, along with Dublin, boasting a 100 per cent record after three outings.

Cork selector Ger O'Sullivan said he has not ruled out Masters making a return in the future.

Kerry have been rocked by the news that Ger Reidy has quit the county panel to concentrate on his studies.

The 24-year-old goalkeeper was Diarmuid Murphy's understudy last season and was widely expected to inherit the Kingdom's number one jersey this year following the latter's retirement.

However, even though Reidy started Kerry's NFL opener against Dublin, he was replaced in between the sticks for the subsequent clashes with Cork and Derry.

He has now opted to quit inter-county football to focus on his college commitments but insisted that his decision had had nothing to do with his recent omissions from Kerry side.

Tyrone forward Owen Mulligan has admitted that his side are in a relegation battle in National Football League Division One but says they are up for the battle.

The 2008 Sam Maguire winners have already lost to Derry, Mayo and Monaghan in their winless campaign and the games only get tougher with Cork – Tyrone’s dominating conquerors in last season’s All-Ireland semi-final – next up on Saturday, followed by games against Galway, Kerry and Dublin.

So Cork are first up. They had five points to spare over Mulligan and his team-mates last August in a game in which the forward only managed two points from frees and found himself under a tirade of abuse from Rebels fans after Cork’s Alan O’Connor was sent off following an incident involving him.

Revenge will likely be a motivation when the Rebels arrive in Omagh but Mulligan knows that Cork – with three NFL wins out of three – will also be up for the game and is under no illusions that a turn in Tyrone’s fortunes will come automatically.

"We all know what happened at Croke Park, they gave us a right going over," Mulligan was quoted as saying by the Irish Examiner.

“We’ll all be up for the game as I’m sure they will be so we will see how it goes.

"It’s a relegation battle now.”

Tyrone looked like they might get that first win of the year against Monaghan in Inniskeen on Saturday but, just as they had gotten on top, a careless goal was conceded when the normally safe Conor Gormley gifted possession to goalscorer Thomas Freeman and the Farney men went on to record a one-point win.

But Mulligan rallied behind his team-mate and says collective responsibility must be taken. He added: "The goal was a bit of a killer but it was unfortunate.
"It wasn’t like Conor and he will bounce back from that and I’m sure the team will as well, in training on Tuesday night.

"People will point the finger at Conor Gormley but, at the end of the day, he had nobody to kick the ball out to so we all have to put our hands up.

“We were a bit unlucky. We played well first-half but just didn’t click in the second-half."

The O’Neill County have made an uncharacteristically poor start to their season and following their 1-14 to 0-16 loss to Ulster rivals Monaghan on Saturday, they are still to garner a point, having also lost to Derry and Mayo.

With Cork, Galway, Kerry and Dublin all still to play the run-in hardly gets any easier for Harte’s side, but the three-time All-Ireland winning manager insists that his side will do enough to stay out of the bottom two and will do so playing the type of football they want to.

"We don't believe in dogfights,” Harte said after the narrow loss in Inniskeen.

“We believe in playing good football. I think we played plenty of good football today and we'll play enough good football to serve us well this year."

Tyrone are now the only side without a win in the top flight, Kerry and the Red Hand’s conquerors getting their first two-pointers in round three.

Monaghan boss Seamus is bullish after the win and says his side will also do all they can to stay up after their promotion from Division Two.

"I don't think it would have made any difference who we were playing here in Inniskeen today, we were up for the fight. It was a very important win,” he was quoted as saying by the Irish Independent.

“We're going to need six points to stay in Division One - and we are hopeful that we will grind out four more points along the road.

"Monaghan is better served by being in Division One and we will fight tooth and nail to stay here. It'll not make any odds, if it goes to play Kerry in Killarney to keep us in Division One, well, then so be it."

McCarthy returned to the Kerry fold midway through the 2009 season, having previously retired, and his comeback coincided with Kerry stepping up their play after a poor start to the Championship. They of course went on to win yet another Sam Maguire trophy.

However, the Kilcummin clubman has again been absent early in 2010 and - after seeing his side earn their first win of their National Football League Division One season on Sunday when beating Derry - O'Connor hinted that he did not expect him to make another return in 2010.

"You can never say never with Mike," O'Connor, whose side lost to Dublin and Cork before beating the Oak Leafers, was quoted as saying by the Irish Examiner.

"He was not coming back last year either but we managed to convince him. He has other commitments now outside of football and they are important as well."

With Darragh O Se and Diarmuid Murphy having called time on their inter-county careers and Tadhg Kennelly and Tommy Walsh having switched to Australian Rules Football, McCarthy's loss would be yet another blow as O'Connor looks to build a new side ahead of the Kingdom's championship defence.

It is three wins from three for the Rebels, but just one for the Tribesmen, who gave as good as they got in the eary stages as Paul O'Flynn, Paddy Kelly and Donncha O'Connor (for Cork) and Nicky Joyce, Sean Armstrong and Michael Meehan (for Galway) all got on the scoresheet.

However, a rosy spell for the Rebels saw Colm O'Neill put them 0-7 to 0-4 clear and then a big moment came as the same player collected the ball and laid it off expertly to Pearse O'Neill, the robust midfielder firing the ball past Eoin O Conghaile for his side's only goal.

Kelly and O'Connor added points as the Rebels led by seven at the break, 1-10 to 0-6.

The second half remained combative, however, though Galway had to wait until after a great move involving Alan O'Connor and Pearse O'Neill led to an O'Flynn point in the first minute of the second 35 before their comeback could begin.

Joyce and Meehan played key scoring roles in that fightback, though with a little over ten minutes to go they still trailed by 1-16 to 0-13, the pick of Cork's second half efforts a fine collection, turn and shot from Daniel Goulding.

Galway hopes were raised though after Meehan's fisted effort rebounded off the bar and fell perfectly for Gary Sice to poke over the line.

That, and a lovely Cillian de Paor score, woke Cork up somewhat as Donncha O'Connor scored another fine point and as the game entered added time - and Cork sub John Hayes was sent off for a second yellow card - they led by two points.

Galway's Danny Cummins then had the chance to win it at the death but blazed across goal and wide as the Rebels held on for a win that their first half play and fine scoring just about merited.

A tight start in the game saw the teams go point-for-point up until the 20-minute mark but Ryan Carson then saw red for the Erne men for an off the ball misdemeanour.

The hosts capitalised to hold a 0-8 to 0-4 half-time, Paddy Cunningham having bagged five of those scores.

Fermanagh never looked like getting back into the game after the break and there were nine points between the sides at the final whistle.

Fermanagh are now second from bottom of the division after two defeats out of three after relegation from the second tier.

The Breffni men lost their last outing in the league when they were beaten by Ulster foes Antrim and there have been alterations to the defence from that day with Eoin McPhilips and Ronan Flanagan starting at right corner back and left half back respectively.

Eoin McGuigan, meanwhile, stays in the tean but he reverts to centre back as Nicholas Walsh is out with an ankle injury. Drung giant Ciaran Galligan comes in to partner Dermot Sheridan in midfield.

The fourth new face in the team is Mickey Brennan. He starts his first game under Carr at full-forward.

Meanwhile, there are a number of other positional chnages with  Gowna's Mark McKeever named to start at left-half forward and Cian Mackey and Raymond Galligan are in the full forward corners.

Cavan: F Reilly; E McPhilips, T Corr, M Cahill; A Clarke, E McGuigan, R Flanagan; C Galligan, D Sheridan; D Givney, G Smith, M McKeever; C Mackey, M Brennan, R Galligan.