The return of midfielder Johnny Buckley and All-Star James O'Donoghue is a welcome boost to Kerry as they prepare to make the short trip to Pairc Ui Chaoimh for Sunday's Munster SFC final against their arch rivals.

Experienced duo Aidan O'Mahony and Donnchadh Walsh are also included in Eamonn Fitzmaurice's starting 15 with David Moran, Darran O'Sullivan Peter Crowley and Michael Geaney making way.

The Kingdom won the corresponding fixture 12 months ago on a scoreline of 1-16 to 0-17 but, since then, Tomas O Se, Paul Galvin and Eoin Brosnan have called it a day.

Colm Cooper - who notched 1-3 last year - is also unavailable due to his cruciate ligament injury.

Cork have also lost a number of key men from that game to retirement but Brian Cuthbert has named a strong looking side which sees dual stars Eoin Cadogan, Damien Cahalane and Aidan Walsh return at the expense of John Hayes, Mark Collins and Andrew O'Sullivan.

Neither Cork or Kerry impressed in their opening games against Tipperary and Clare respectively but they would have had one eye on this encounter from the start of the year.

In their most recent meeting, the Rebels inflicted an embarrassing 2-18 to 1-11 defeat on Kerry in round 7 of Division 1 at Austin Stack Park, Tralee in early April.

Cuthbert & Co. get a tentative vote to regain the provincial silverware.

Verdict - Cork.

Cork team:Ken O'Halloran; Michael Shields (Capt), Eoin Cadogan, Noel Galvin; James Loughrey, Thomas Clancy, Damian Cahalane; Aidan Walsh, Fintan Goold; Patrick Kelly, Paul Kerrigan, John O'Rourke; Daniel Goulding, Brian Hurley, Barry O'Driscoll.

Kerry team: Brian Kelly; Marc Ó Sé, Aidan O'Mahony, Shane Enright; Paul Murphy, Killian Young, Fionn Fitzgerald (Capt); Anthony Maher, Johnny Buckley; Stephen O'Brien, Bryan Sheehan, Donnchadh Walsh; Paul Geaney, Declan O'Sullivan, James O'Donoghue.

Match details: Sunday, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, 2pm.

Referee: Cormac Reilly (Meath).

Odds: Cork 4/6, Draw 15/2, Kerry 6/4. Tweet

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