Niall Carew and Justin O’Halloran have named their starting teams for Sunday’s opening round of the Connacht Championship between Sligo and New York.

Sligo are without Kevin McDonnell and Gerard O’Kelly Lynch while Niall Murphy has failed to recover from hamstring injury to take his part on the starting 15 .

Sligo have four players in the starting team who featured against New York in 2007 . Charlie Harrison, Ross Donavan, Mark Breheny and Adrian Marren.

Neil Ewing will captain the side for the first time as captain in the championship.

Sligo Team:
1. Aidan Devaney (Calry/St. Joseph’s); 2. Ross Donavan (Eastern Harps) 3. Charlie Harrison (St. John’s) 4. Eoin McHugh (St. Molaise Gaels) 5. Keelan Cawley (Coolera Standhill) 6. Brendan Egan (St. Vincent’s) 7. John Kelly (Tourlestrane) 8. Cian Breheny (St. Mary’s) 9. Adrian McIntyre (Tourlestrane) 10. Neil Ewing – Captain (Drumcliffe/Rosses Point) 11. Mark Breheny (St. Mary’s) 12. Kyle Cawley (St. Mary’s) 13. Stephen Coen (St. Mary’s)
14. Pat Hughes (Geevagh)15. Adrian Marren ( Curry)

Meanwhile, New York include former Mayo star defender Tom Cunniffe, former Dublin All Star hurler Danny Sutcliffe and Donegal native Ross Wherity lining out in their colours this season. Vinnie Cadden will face his home county as New York’s goalkeeper.

New York Team:

1. V Cadden, 2. T Cunniffe, 3. D Cunnane, 4. P Witherow; 5. G McCartan, 6. D Culhane, 7. K Quinn; 8. B Gallagher, 9. S Hogan; 10. D Sutcliffe, 11. C McGraynor, 12. R Wherity; 13. D McKenna, 14. S O’Connor, 15. E McVerry.