O'Connell captains strong Munster A side to face Leinster

LEADER: Munster's Evan O'Connell. Pic: Ken Sutton/Inpho

Academy lock Evan O’Connell will captain a Munster A side featuring senior squad members in their IRFU interprovincial championship clash with Leinster at Terenure College RFC on Friday (5pm).

Tom Ahern, Tony Butler, Eoghan Clarke, Jack Daly, Brian Gleeson and Paddy Patterson will all be given gametime in a matchday squad that features senior hooker Scott Buckley and new short-term loosehead prop signing Conor Bartley on the bench. The Munster A 23 also comprises 12 Munster academy players and with Cork Constitution’s Eoghan Smyth starting at inside centre in a backline also featuring new academy signing Gordon Wood on the wing.

Wood starts in a back three alongside fellow wing Shay McCarthy and Emerging Ireland full-back Ben O’Connor, Smyth forms a centre partnership with academy midfielder Gene O’Leary Kareem outside a senior half-back pairing of Butler and scrum-half Patterson.

Former PBC captain Gene O'Leary Kareem celebrates with his team after their victory over CBC in the Pinergy Munster Schools Senior Cup final at Virgin Media Park. Pic: Dan Linehan

Last season’s Ireland Under-20 captain, O’Connell made his senior debut at the start of the November against the All Blacks XV and will skipper from the second row at Lakelands alongside Ahern.

There is further AIL club representation on a 10-man bench from Shannon’s Emmet Calvey, Young Munster pair Hubert Gilvarry and Oisin Pepper and UCC’s Conor Ryan with Sean Edogbo, Danny Sheahan, Jack Oliver and Dylan Hicks also among the replacements.

Academy props George Hadden and Ronan Foxe, both Emerging Ireland tourists last month, start in the front row alongside hooker Clarke, while Ruadhan Quinn, Daly and No.8 Gleeson form the back row.

MUNSTER A: B O’Connor; G Wood, G O’Leary Kareem, E Smyth, S McCarthy; T Butler, P Patterson; G Hadden, E Clarke, R Foxe; T Ahern, E O’Connell – captain; R Quinn, J Daly, B Gleeson.

Replacements: S Buckley, C Bartley, E Calvey, C Ryan. S Edogbo, J Oliver, D Hicks, O Pepper, D Sheahan, H Gilvarry.