Connacht Eagles team to face London Irish

13 January 2017

Connacht Eagles team to face London Irish
The Connacht Eagles side will play London Irish at Dubarry Park in Athlone tomorrow (2pm) and head coach Mossy Lawler has named his side.

Senior player Josh Rowland returns from long-term injury to start at fullback for the Eagles. Galwegians’ Matthew Byrne and Adam Leavy are on the wings while Ciaran Gaffney who earned two Guinness PRO12 caps with the senior side last month lines out in the centre. The half back pairing is once again made up of Buccaneers’ duo Luke Carty and Conor McKeon.

Danny Qualter will captain the side and is one of three senior players in the pack with Dominic Robertson-McCoy and Rory Moloney also featuring.

Eagles’ head coach Mossy Lawler commented ahead of the round 5 fixture:

“While we’re still looking for our first win of the campaign, what we really want to see as coaches is an improved performance all round. Again, we have a real mix of experience going out tomorrow with limited training time. But we still see it as a great opportunity to test ourselves against a quality side.  

“We’re looking forward to playing in Dubarry Park where a lot of the guys would be used to playing with their club side.”

Connacht Eagles team to face London Irish, Dubarry Park, Sat January 14th, 2pm

(Connacht senior caps and affiliated club in brackets)

15 Josh Rowland (Buccaneers RFC)
14 Matthew Byrne (Galwegians RFC)
13 Ciaran Gaffney (Galwegians RFC)
12 Kieran Joyce (Malone RFC)
11 Adam Leavy  (Galwegians RFC)
10 Luke Carty (Buccaneers RFC)
9 Conor McKeon (2) (Buccaneers RFC)

1 Jack Dinneen (2) (Galwegians RFC)
2 Shane O’Hehir (Sligo RFC)
3 Dominic Robertson-McCoy (4) (Galwegians RFC)
4 Cillian Gallagher (Sligo RFC)
5 Danny Qualter (captain) (14) (Buccaneers RFC)
6 Rory Moloney (1) (Buccaneers RFC)
7 Josh Pim (Galwegians RFC)
8 Marc Kelly (Galwegians RFC)

REPLACEMENTS

16 Conor Kyne (Galwegians RFC)
17 Saba Meunargia (2) (Buccaneers RFC)
18 Cian Romaine (Buccaneers RFC)
19 Sean Masterson (Corinthians RFC)
20 Stephen Kerins (Corinthians RFC)
21 Morgan Codyre (Galwegians RFC)
22 Joe Murphy (Corinthians RFC)

Connacht Eagles v London Irish
Saturday January 14th 2017
Dubarry Park
Kick off 2pm

Entry is free for all Connacht Rugby Season Ticket Holders. Under 14’s are also free while it’s just €5 for students, youths and OAP’s and €10 for adults.