Healy set for debut as Horan facing lengthy lay-off

MARCUS HORAN will not be seen in competitive action again until the New Year at the earliest.

The Irish management yesterday confirmed the Munster loose head won’t be available for the Guinness series of games against Australia, Fiji and South Africa. The statement added: “Following further tests this week, Marcus Horan underwent a routine medical procedure today (November 6) and will undergo a period of rest over the next number of weeks. It is expected he will be available to Munster and Ireland after the New Year.”

Horan came off the field complaining of dizziness after 16 minutes of the Heineken Cup game against Treviso exactly two weeks ago. He has been undergoing tests ever since and it seems there is no definite prognosis regarding his health. The positive news is he has spoken to members of both the Munster and Irish management and is in good form and spirits. Indeed, Irish coach Declan Kidney reported that “he was fine and giving out to me as much as ever”.

Horan’s misfortune will almost certainly lead to a first Irish cap for the highly promising Leinster prop Cian Healy. Although John Hayes won’t have played for six weeks following his suspension during the Leinster-Munster Magners League game on October 3, he is certain to start his 95th match for his country against Australia at Croke Park tomorrow week. Hayes is the only tight head included in the revised 31-man squad announced yesterday with Tom Court the only challenge to Healy for the number one jersey.

Hayes’s five-week ban ends tonight leaving him with no chance of getting in any kind of match before the Wallabies clash.

Indeed, the front row is one of the few areas providing Declan Kidney with any serious problem, with some doubt still surrounding Jerry Flannery’s fitness. His calf strain has responded to treatment but Connacht’s Sean Cronin and Leinster hooker John Fogarty remain with the senior panel pending further appraisal of Flannery’s injury.

As of last night, it seemed a reasonable assumption that the Irish team for the first of the three November games will read: Rob Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll capt, Paddy Wallace or Gordon D’Arcy, Luke Fitzgerald; Ronan O’Gara, Tomas O’Leary; Cian Healy, Jerry Flannery or John Fogarty, John Hayes, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Stephen Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip.

The original 39-man panel named last week was yesterday divided into two separate squads with 31 players named in the senior squad, which now contains some new faces in Bob Casey, Ian Dowling, Denis Hurley, Felix Jones, John Muldoon, Mick O’Driscoll and Niall Ronan.

The senior squad will reconvene camp in Dublin next Monday ahead of the Test against Australia. The team will be announced on Wednesday next. A 22-man A squad to play Tonga at Ravenhill next Friday will be in camp in Belfast and the full team to play Tonga will be announced on Tuesday.

There are no major injury concerns within the squad that finished a training camp in Limerick yesterday. The only worries were Denis Leamy, Paddy Wallace and Tomas O’Leary, recovering from colds which are unlikely to rule them out of the Australian game.