Penney: Sherry’s Ireland call only a matter of time

Rob Penney has no doubt Mike Sherry will soon be a player the Ireland management will find too difficult to ignore.

While Leinster’s newly-Irish qualified hooker Richardt Strauss was not only learning the lines to Amhrán na bhFiann but repaying the faith shown in him by Declan Kidney during last month’s Guinness Series, his Munster counterpart was getting his head down, learning the value of patience and proving his worth to new provincial bosses.

Despite an emergency call-up to the Ireland squad at last year’s World Cup and having toured with the national side in New Zealand during the summer, Sherry has still not seen a minute of Test action and was overlooked by Kidney for the autumn internationals in favour of Strauss.