UCC’s Danny Sheahan called up to Ireland squad for World Rugby U20 Championship 

UCC’s Danny Sheahan is going to the World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa as the sole representative of Cork after he was called up to the Ireland squad by Head Coach Richie Murphy.

The Hooker will put on the green jersey just three months after he featured on the team that beat England to win a second consecutive Grand Slam at the U20 Six Nations.

Sheahan is the nephew of Munster legend Frankie Sheahan, and he first made his name known by helping Presentation Brothers College reach the final of the 2022 Munster Schools Senior Cup.

Ireland, who have never won a world title at this age group, have reached just one final and that ended in a 45–21 defeat to England.

The last edition of the World Rugby Under 20 Championship was in 2019 and Ireland finished second in a group that had Austrailia, England, and Italy.

That squad included John Hodnett and Ben Healy; with the pair going on to help Munster end a 12 year trophy drought by defeating Stormers in the URC Grand Final.

26 of the 30 players selected were on the Ireland squad that won the U20 Six Nations Grand Slam earlier this year.

Ireland are in Pool B and they will play Austrailia, England, and Fiji. 

Their first game is against England and that is scheduled to take place on June 24th at the Paarl Gimnasium.

Speaking ahead of the squad’s departure, Murphy said: “It is an exciting time for the squad as we prepare to depart for South Africa for the World Rugby U20 Championship. 

"It has been four years since the last edition of the tournament and we’re looking forward to getting to Cape Town to test ourselves against the world’s best teams.

“It has been a competitive couple of weeks as the squad have pushed each other in preparation for the tournament and we know we’ll need to grow and evolve as a team from the Six Nations for what will be a challenging couple of weeks against quality opposition in South Africa.” 

Ireland U20s Squad:

Forwards (17):

George Hadden (Clontarf/Leinster); George Morris (Lansdowne/Leinster), Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster), Max Clein (Garryowen/Munster), Danny Sheahan (UCC/Munster), Paddy McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster), Fiachna Barrett (Corinthians/Connacht), Ronan Foxe (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD/Leinster), Charlie Irvine (Queen’s University/Ulster), Joe Hopes (Queen’s University/Ulster), Diarmuid Mangan (UCD/Leinster), Evan O’Connell (UL Bohemians/Munster), James McNabney (Ballymena/Ulster), Ruadhan Quinn (Old Crescent/Munster), Brian Gleeson (Garryowen/Munster), Dan Barron (Dublin University/Leinster).

Backs (13):

Fintan Gunne (Terenure/Leinster); Jack Oliver (Garryowen/Munster), Oscar Cawley (Naas/Leinster), Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne/Leinster), Matthew Lynch (Dublin University/Leinster), John Devine (Corinthians/Connacht), Hugh Cooney (Clontarf/Leinster) Hugh Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht), Andrew Osborne (Naas/Leinster), Rory Telfer (Queen’s University/Ulster), James Nicholson (UCD/Leinster), Henry McErlean (Terenure/Leinster), Harry West (Buccaneers/Connacht)