Squad Announced For Ulster Bank Club International
Ireland Club coaches Conor Twomey and David Murphy have named a 26-man squad for the Ireland Club XV v England Counties game at Cork Constitution FC on Friday, February 8.
Conor Twomey, UCC head coach last season, and David Murphy from De La Salle Palmerston have been working hard with the Irish squad since before Christmas and narrowed down the panel from an initial 35 players to 26 this week.
Last year the Irish team were beaten 34-16 by their English counterparts in Preston North End and Twomey feels he has assembled a strong squad for the game at Temple Hill.
Cork Constitution’s own Gerry Hurley will captain the squad which includes several experienced players at this level, such as former captains Frank Cogan, Simon Crawford and Sam Cronin.
Dolphin’s prolific points scorer, Barry Keeshan, is also named and is likely to partner Hurley at half-back.
Also returning to the squad from last year are Cian Aherne and Craig Ronaldson from Lansdowne, Risteard Byrne from UCD, Rob Sweeney from St. Mary’s College, Neville Melbourne from Young Munster, James Thompson from Ballynahinch and Fergal Walsh from Shannon.
In all, there are 12 Ulster Bank League clubs represented from the top two divisions with 11 uncapped players included. Last season’s top flight champions St. Mary’s College have four players in the squad, while Clontarf have five.
Shannon and Ballinahinch each have three on the squad followed by Cork Con, Lansdowne and UCD with two each, while Old Belvedere, Malone, UL Bohemians, Young Munster, Dolphin have one representative each.
Cork Con are encouraging as many supporters as possible to come along to Temple Hill and enjoy a great evening of rugby and the fantastic new facilities that will be officially opened on matchday.
IRELAND CLUB XV Squad (v England Counties, Ulster Bank Club International, Temple Hill, Friday, February 8, kick-off 7.30pm):
Pa Regan (Old Belvedere)
Robert Sweeney (St Mary’s College)
Andrew O’Driscoll (Cork Constitution)
Risterad Byrne (UCD)
Richie Sweeney (St. Mary’s College)
Kevin Griffin (Shannon)
Colm McMahon (St. Mary’s College)
Fergal Walsh (Shannon)
Ed Kelly (UL Bohemians)
Neville Melbourne (Young Munster)
Simon Crawford (Clontarf)
Danny Kenny (UCD)
Paul Pritchard (Ballynahinch)
Frank Cogan (Clontarf)
Glenn Moore (Malone)
Sam Cronin (Clontarf)
Gerry Hurley (Cork Constitution) (capt)
Barry Keeshan (Dolphin)
Craig Ronaldson (Lansdowne)
Cian Aherne (Lansdowne)
Darragh Fanning (St. Mary’s College)
Tim McCoy (Clontarf)
Killian Lett (Clontarf)
James Thompson (Ballynahinch)
Stuart Morrow (Ballynahinch)
Richie Mullane (Shannon)