Ballylanders clubman Thomas Lee is back in midfield having missed the Allianz League campaign. His centre-field partner is Monaleen's Paul Kinnerk who is set for his first Championship start.

Kinnerk was used as a substitute in last year's 0-14 to 0-9 All-Ireland qualifier win over Waterford. The sides also met in Division 4 of the league in March, with Waterford finishing strongly to secure a 1-18 to 1-14 victory at the Gaelic Grounds.

There are injury doubts over Limerick's Stephen Lucey (groin), Jim O'Donovan (back) and Stephen Kelly (knee), and the loss of star midfielder John Galvin, who has suffered a recurrence of a cruciate knee ligament injury, is the biggest blow of all.

"John's a huge loss to us. If you saw him for the first 20-25 minutes for the league game in Fermanagh (last month), you would have seen that he was flying," Limerick boss Maurice Horan told the Irish Examiner.

"He got the ball and went to ghost past a guy and the knee just went. He's the father figure and spiritual leader of our team. He always delivers and commands huge respect.

"We thought he was over the worst of it. He was actually flying. We can't rule anything in or out but it looks unlikely that he'll play this season."

LIMERICK (SFC v Waterford): Brian Scanlon; Johnny McCarthy, Paudie Browne, Lorcan O'Dwyer; Stephen Lavin, John Riordan, Pa Ranahan; Thomas Lee, Paul Kinnerk; Eoin Barry, Eoghan O'Connor, Seanie Buckley; Ger Collins (capt), Seamus O'Carroll, Ian Ryan.