Ian Costello comfortable with inclusion of just five Munster players in Ireland U20 Six Nations squad

We don't have the depth to have 12, 15 players in it, but I'd like us to have, eight to 10 in there and up to five starters.”

Wed, 15 Jan, 2025 - 08:06

Simon Lewis and Daire Walsh

Ian Costello said he was comfortable with the inclusion of just five Munster players in the Ireland Under-20 Six Nations squad.

New Ireland U20 head coach Neil Doak named Munster’s Michael Foy and Conor Kennelly among his 17 forwards for the championship, which kicks off at Cork’s Virgin Media Park against England a week on Thursday, while Dylan Hicks, Gene O'Leary Kareem and Eoghan Smyth were included in a 14-strong backline selection.

Asked if he was disappointed by the number of Munster players for Ireland’s U20 championship campaign, interim head coach and Head of Rugby Operations Costello said:

“It would be in isolation, but I can give you a really good context.

“Emmett Calvey, who was there at prop last year at underage, he's in a brace, he'd be a dead cert. Luke Murphy will be a dead cert in two weeks' time. He played last year, the number 8, so there's a couple other players to come back into that.

“This is actually a strong age group… We think a lot of them will be starters, and I'd way prefer have five starters rather than have 12 and only three starters, if that makes sense? Because it's the starters that generally translate into pros for us.

“So Evan O'Connell, Brian Gleeson, Ruadhan Quinn, Sean Edogbo, all those guys (in 2024), so that would be the target. We don't have the depth to have 12, 15 players in it, but I'd like us to have, eight to 10 in there and up to five starters.”

Ahead of his debut Six Nations campaign with the side, Ireland U20s head coach Neil Doak has heaped praise on team captain Éanna McCarthy.

A native of Cork, McCarthy is set to lead out his country in this year's championship - beginning with an opener against title holders England in the familiar surroundings of Virgin Media Park on the Leeside on January 30.

When you consider six players are returning from last year’s set-up, it is quite a feat for McCarthy to be tasked with this key leadership role in his maiden season at this international grade.

Yet on the basis of what he has seen to date from the Connacht Academy star (particularly in the recent warm-up game against a Leinster Development side), Doak believes he has the ability to lead his Irish side into battle.

“You look at that game last week, Éanna led from the front. When we put the squad together and put the management together, and tried to build what we were about... for me I’m a bit more action orientated. I want to get in the middle, I want to do things,” Doak remarked at a squad announcement in PwC’s headquarters in Dublin on Tuesday.

“I want to give the players the best opportunity to deliver. Éanna last week, he was physical, he was direct. We’re going to need that in abundance against England first up. If he can lead from the front, we can get the rest of the squad in behind him and we’ll be in a good spot.”