Mattie Forde has been declared fit to start Wexford's national football league Division Two opener against Armagh on Sunday. It was believed that the brilliant forward might miss the first two rounds of the competition through injury, but manager Jason Ryan says the talismanic attacker has recovered from the problem that plagued him during the latter stages of the Model County's extraordinary 2008 championship run. However, the news on other fronts is mixed for the boss, who has a few experienced men back but a number of key players unavailable for selection for a variety of reasons: "We had a challenge game with Cavan on Saturday. Mattie played in that game and came through it 100%. He's fit and looking forward to Sunday's game. "Centre back David Murphy is out. David had a groin operation on Friday last which will rule him out for some time. David Walsh is not due back from New Zealand until next week, while both Shane Roche (ankle) and Niall Murphy (back) are also out of contention, as is Redmond Barry, recently married, who is touring the world and will miss the league. "Diarmuid Kinsella is back from Hong Kong and in training. He's a class act and is making great progress. David Fogarty and Shane Cullen are also back and in contention. "Following inter-district trials and a number of challenge games, my biggest task has been reducing the squad to 30. Now it has to be reduced to 24 for Sunday. The strength in depth in the squad for training has improved immensely on last year. "This is a huge game to start the league with but we are all looking forward to the game. We have already played and beaten the likes of Meath, Fermanagh, Armagh and Laois last year, all of whom are in our group. We will be taking each game seriously and hope to build and progress on last year's achievements," concluded the Yellowbelly manager. Tweet

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