Ireland Under-18 Clubs Squad Announced

After the recent Youth Interprovincials, the Ireland Under-18 Clubs management team have named a squad of 39 players to attend the first training camp of the 2008/09 season.

The Irish management watched the Exiles Under-18s in action against Connacht and Munster at the end of October and all of the Interpro games before this first squad selection was made.

They are beginning their quest to select a 26-man squad to play in the 2008/09 FIRA-AER European Under-18 Championships, which this year will be held in Toulon (Cote D’Azure) in France from April 2 to 12.

This will be the third year that the Ireland Under-18 Clubs squad will play in this prestigious tournament.

Ireland have a proud record in the event having narrowly lost to France, in a penalty shoot-out, in the 2007 final in Dax and once again narrowly losing 12-5 to France in the 2008 final in Treviso.

Of the 39 players named in the initial squad, manager Willie Gribben and head coach Greg Lynch are pleased to be able to call up four players who featured in the 2008 squad.

They are Dominic Gallagher (Ulster), Andrew Boyle and David Lynch (both Leinster) and Mark Dolan (Connacht).

The experience gained by these four young men in last season’s championships will play an important role in the development of the new squad.

This camp is the first of a programme of camps drawn up by the Under-18 Clubs management as part of their preparations.

Further weekend camps will be held on November 28 to 30 and December 28 to 30, before the second phase of the interprovincials takes place.

The play-offs – Connacht clash with Leinster and Ulster face Munster in the semi-finals followed by the third-fourth place play-off and the final – will take place on January 24 and 31.

These games are seen as an integral part of the Ireland Under-18 programme as they give players a final opportunity to break into the Ireland squad.

The European Championships draw once again sees Ireland (seeded 2) face Russia (seeded 7) in the opening match.

If the boys in green overcome Russia then it is highly likely they will face third seeds England in the semi final, with first seeds France awaiting the winners of this game in the final.

Ireland Under-18 Clubs Squad:

Aaron Conneely (Corinthians)  
Adam Bratton (City of Derry) 
Andrew Hunter (Lomond School) 
Andrew Boyle (Clondalkin)
Ben Howard (Bury St Edmunds) 
Callum Burke (London Wasps)
Chris Leathem (Banbridge)
Conor Smith (Coleraine)
Daniel Qualter (Buccaneers)  
David Lynch (Naas)
Dominic Gallagher (Lisburn)  
Eddie Downes (Wicklow) 
Eoin McKeon (Galwegians)
Gearoid Crowe (Ennis)
Gearoid McDonald (Dundalk)
Gerard Fahy (Galwegians)
Grant Connon (Carlisle)
Jack Carty (Buccaneers) 
Jack Walsh (London Wasps)
John Sutton (New Ross) 
Jonathan Corscadden (Malone)
Jonathan Holland (Sundays Well)
Kevin O’Byrne (Highfield)
Kieran Marmion (Kirkham GS)
Lee McClure (Portadown)
Lucas Kuntz (Ennis)
Luke O’Keefe (London Wasps)  
Mark Dolan (Buccaneers)  
Matthew Dever (St Benedicts)
Michael Kearney (Clontarf)
Paul Dean (DLSP) 
Ronan O’Connor (Skerries)
Sean Wooton (Castlebar)
Stephen Collins (Ennis)
Stephen Irvine (Banbridge)
Stuart Flynn (Mullingar)
Stuart Simpson (City of Derry) 
Tadhg Furlong (New Ross) 
Tadhg Power (Sligo)