MAYO’S DEFEAT TO Kildare in round 3 of the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers last weekend saw them become the latest major power to hit the inter-county scrapheap in June.

Tipperary and Waterford’s interests in the race for the Liam MacCarthy ended last month when they failed to advance from the Munster SHC round-robin phase.

An early exit provides inter-county stars with the opportunity to pitch up with a US club for the summer and a number of players have made the move in recent days.

Mayo pair Diarmuid O’Connor and Conor Loftus have both joined Chicago side McBrides, while Premier trio Patrick Maher, Cathal Barrett and Ronan Maher have signed with the Tipperary club in New York.

A large Waterford contingent have travelled to San Francisco, with DJ Foran, Mark O’Brien, Colin Dunford and Michael Kearney joining local outfit Na Fianna while Patrick Curran signed with Tipperary.

Kilkenny legend Michael Fennelly has also joined Na Fianna in San Fran.

In Boston, Dublin duo Diarmuid Connolly and Shane Carthy, plus Carlow’s Brendan Murphy have joined Donegal, Tipperary footballer Steven O’Brien signed for Connemara Gaels and Meath’s James McEntee will play for Wolfe Tones.

Elsewhere, Premier footballer Liam Casey will represent St Patrick’s of Philadelphia and Armagh native Stefan Campbell will line-out with New York side Westmeath.

One change to Cork team for Munster U21 hurling final with 7 senior title winners included

‘He comes and watches my training to see if he can pick up anything that would help his hurling coaching’