Dan Sheehan outlook good news for Ireland, says Farrell

The hooker is expected to recover from a foot injury. 

HOOK OR BY CROOK: Ireland's Dan Sheehan (right) celebrates scoring a try. 

Andy Farrell is banking on Dan Sheehan to continue the speedy recovery from a foot injury that allowed the Ireland boss to declare his first-choice hooker fit for next month’s World Cup.

The positive diagnosis on the foot injury the 24-year-old hooker sustained in last Saturday’s victory over England at Aviva Stadium allowed the head coach to deliver the good news as he revealed his team to face Samoa at Stade Jean Dauger tomorrow night.

The sight of Sheehan hobble-jogging from the pitch just before half-time of last weekend’s 29-10 win added to anxiety over resources in that position given second-choice hooker Ronan Kelleher was nursing his way back from a hamstring issue and had been unavailable for selection. That was exacerbated by the news that Sheehan had not travelled to southwestern France with the rest of the training squad and would remain in Dublin to see a specialist and begin his rehabilitation alongside fellow injury victims Jack Conan (foot) and Dave Kilcoyne (hamstring).

Farrell has handed rookie Tom Stewart his first Ireland start at hooker against the Samoans, three weeks on from his Test debut off the bench against Italy while Ulster team-mate Rob Herring will provide support from the bench as he did in the first two Summer Series games as the men in green round off their pre-World Cup schedule in Bayonne, two weeks out from a Pool B opening game against Romania in Bordeaux.

The Ireland boss agreed it was a dose of welcome news to have Sheehan available for the tournament.

“Yeah, yeah, he’s great and he’s a fine specimen of a man so hopefully he continues to heal quickly,” Farrell said.

There had been speculation earlier in the week that Sheehan may miss the entire Pool B campaign, which concludes on October 7 against Scotland in Paris but Farrell was speaking with the facts in front of him following that consultation between the hooker and the specialist.

"He's good, he's got a sprained ligament in his foot,” Farrell said. “Better than expected, we expect him to be fit for the World Cup."

Whether that would see Sheehan available for the Pool B opener in 16 days, Farrell added: "We'll see how he progresses and with all injuries you see how they develop over the period of time, don't you? But we expect him to be fit for the World Cup."

There was also positivity from Farrell regarding Kelleher.

"As far as Rónan's concerned, he's doing great. He's flying around the place at this moment in time.

"This week, at a push if it was a World Cup semi-final or final we could have got him over the line but there's no need to do that.

"He's in good spirits."

Farrell will announce his final 33-player World Cup squad back in Dublin on Monday afternoon.