NEWS ROUND-UP:DOWN WILL make their first senior appearance in Croke Park since 1994 buoyed by the presence of midfielder and captain Dan Gordon.

As expected, Gordon's red card incident in last Saturday's second round qualifier win over Laois was yesterday annulled following his appearance before the Central Hearings Committee.

This was based on video evidence provided by the Down county board, which revealed that Gordon didn't make any contact with Padraig Clancy of Laois, despite being cited for a head butt, and therefore didn't deserve the red card nor subsequent four-week ban.

Manager Ross Carr thus included Gordon in his team for the meeting with Wexford, the first of tomorrow's All-Ireland third round football qualifiers at Croke Park.

With full back Martin Cole ruled out with an ankle injury, Peter Turley takes over the position in what is the sole change from last Saturday. Wexford manager Jason Ryan delayed the announcing of his team until tomorrow morning.

Mickey Harte has included Seán Cavanagh in the Tyrone team for tomorrow's second qualifier match at Croke Park, against recent rivals Mayo. Cavanagh has made a fairly miraculous recovery from the neck injury sustained in last Saturday's second round win over Westmeath, which saw him carried off in a worrying state just before half time.

Cavanagh was taken to hospital for a full examination, although nothing more than a bad strain was diagnosed, and he was given the all clear to resume football. Harte was last night happy to name him again at full forward.

The news is not so good for younger brother Colm, who replaced the elder Cavanagh last Saturday, as he, too, was later replaced 10 minutes from time with a dislocated shoulder that is likely to have ruled him out for the rest of the season.

Opponents' Mayo won't finalise their team until shortly before throw-in time tomorrow. Manager John O'Mahony put his team through a final training session last night, but decided to hold off on a team announcement to await a final update on the fitness of midfielder and captain Ronan McGarrity and forward Trevor Mortimer.

McGarrity is the big worry, and a hamstring injury sustained in a club match two weeks has greatly limited his training since. Mortimer is also carrying a hamstring injury from the Connacht final defeat to Galway back on July 13th - and O'Mahony is intent on giving both players the chance to prove their fitness.

"Time is what we need with these two," says O'Mahony, "but I just don't know if we'll have enough time. Barry Moran is also very doubtful as he only recently got the cast off the broken bone in his hand. We've had two weeks now of preparation, but I watched Tyrone against Westmeath last Saturday, and there's no doubt they're a very experienced side."

Monaghan versus All-Ireland champions Kerry provide the climax on Sunday - the repeat of last year's quarter-final. Monaghan manager Séamus McEnaney is making every effort to get it right this time, and will put his team through a final training session this evening before revealing his starting 15.

"We've a clean bill of health," he says, "and looking forward to the challenge. But the reality is Kerry have played in the last four All-Ireland finals and won three. They're still the best team in the country, no doubt about it."

Kildare are possibly the surprise package in the third round, and in keeping with the trend, manager Kieran McGeeney will also put his team through a final training session this evening before announcing his line-up for Sunday's meeting with Fermanagh.

Several changes are expected, with Michael Conway and Gary Whyte in the running for starting places having come on to such good effect in last Saturday's win over Limerick.

Fermanagh are taking time to come to terms with last Sunday's Ulster final replay defeat to Armagh, and manager Malachy O'Rourke will announce his team today. The only player definitely ruled out is former All Star Barry Owens, who sustained the dreaded torn cruciate in the replay.

DOWN (SF v Wexford):B McVeigh; L Howard, P Turley, C Murney; P Murphy, A Carr, K McGuigan; D Gordon, A Rodgers; J Fegan, K McKernan, D Hughes; R Murtagh, J Clarke, B Coulter.

TYRONE (SF v Mayo):J Devine, R McMenamin, J McMahon, PJ Quinn, D Harte, C Gormley, P Jordan, R Mellon, E McGinley, B Dooher, B McGuigan, T McGuigan, M Penrose, S Cavanagh, C McCullagh.

WESTMEATH (SH v Carlow):M Briody; G Gavin, P Greville, A Price; B Connaughton, D McCormack, P Dowdall; L Smyth, P Clarke; A Mitchell, B Murtagh, E Price; R Jackson, D McNicholas, J Shaw.