The Best Starting XV For Each Provincial Team In The Railway Cup

The inter-provincial teams have been announced, and it's good to see so many big names put their hand up and make this as exciting to watch as possible.

Ulster and Connacht in particular look to have a very good mix of the province's top players, while Leinster were always going to be strong with so many Dublin players.

Munster certainly isn't as powerful looking as it potentially could be, and John Cleary was hopeful that the Clifford brothers would be available considering that they were knocked out of the Kerry championship last week, but they won't be featuring.

With so many players to choose from it is difficult to name a starting XV but after much discussion and wiggling around, here are the teams we think looks the strongest

Ulster

Ulster have dominated the 2024 season winning every single All-Ireland competition possible from minor, schools, university, right up to senior club and county level, so they will want to add this to their trophy cabinet.

Nine of Armagh's All-Ireland winners are in the team while Tyrone are also well represented with seven players from the Red Hand county.

Interestingly Mark Bradley was selected for the squad which might be an indication that he will be willing to return to Tyrone under the new manager Malachy O'Rourke.

Eoin McElholm is also in the panel, a young player that everyone is excited to see, including scouts from the AFL, but for right now, we have opted for a more experienced starting team.

Starting XV:

1. Niall Morgan
2. Peter McGrane
3. Paddy Burns
4. Diarmuid Baker
5. Padraig Faulkner
6. Eoin McEvoy
7. Aidan Forker
8. Niall Grimley
9. Conn Kilpatrick
10. Oisin Conaty
11. Ciaran Thompson
12. Daire O Baoill
13. Darren McCurry
14. Rian O'Neill
15. Pat Havren

SUBS:

Mark Bradley, Aidan Clarke, Daniel Guiness, Marc Jordan, Barry McBennett, Ronan McCaffrey, Sean McNally, Eoin McElholm, Joe McElroy, Kieran McGeary,  Ross McQuillan, Armagh Odhran Murdock, Oisin O Neill, Gerry Smith,  Niall Toner

READ ALSO: David Clifford Congratulates Dingle Goalkeeper After Penalty Heartbreak

Leinster 

Leinster have a plethora of Dublin stars in their team which means they have bags full of All-Ireland winners in the squad.

Strong players from the likes Louth, Meath and Kildare really bolster the team though, and Laois had a fantastic season, particularly with the brilliant Evan O'Carroll up front, so it will be great to see him in action.

Starting XV:

1. Stephen Cluxton
2. Eoin Murchan
3. Paul Kingston
4. Michael Bambrick
5. Craig Lennon
6. John Small
7. Ronan Wallace
8. Ray Connellan
9. James McCarthy
10. Brian Howard
11. Sean Bugler
12. Ciaran Kilkenny
13. Paddy Small
14. Evan O'Carroll
15. Ciaran Downey

SUBS:

Mark Barry, Peter Cunningham, Ross Dunphy, Kevin Feely, Darren Gallagher, Dean Healy, Ryan Houlihan, Killian Roche, Ronan Jones, Donal Keoghan, Paul Kingston, Daniel Flynn, Lee Pearson, Eoin Porter, Kevin Quinn

Connacht 

A powerful mix of Mayo's famous players, Galway stars that reached last year's All-Ireland final and Roscommon's incredible forwards, and Connacht look like one of the favourites for this competition.

It took a bit of shuffling around positions to get the Rossies in that forward line, but overall the team looks very dangerous and with real talent on the bench too.

Starting XV:

1. Conor Gleeson
2. Johnny McGrath
3. Brian Stack
4. Ruaidhrí Fallon
5. Cillian McDaid
6. John Daly
7. Eoghan McLoughlin
8. Enda Smith
9. Aidan O'Shea
10. Matthew Tierney
11. Diarmuid Murtagh
12. John Maher
13. Daire Cregg
14. Donny Smith
15. Johnny Heaney

SUBS:

Jack Carney, Bob Touhy, Conor Carroll, Mark Diffley, Shane Brosnan,Ultan Harney, Barry McNulty, Conor Cox, Ciaran Murtagh, Diarmuid Duffy, Fergal Boland, Pat Spillane, Aidan McLoughlin, Liam Gallagher,

Munster

Munster maybe don't have as many Kerry players as they would have liked, but stars like Diarmuid O Connor, Tadhg Morley and Killian Spillane would walk onto most teams in the country.

Cork powerhouses like Chris Og Jones and Colm O'Callaghan also bolster the team, and with John Cleary in charge, they have every chance of winning.

Starting XV:

1. Josh Ryan
2. Jimmy Feehan
3. Sean Meehan
4. Dermot Ryan
5. Mattie Taylor
6. Tadhg Morley
7. Tommy Walsh
8. Diarmuid O Connor
9. Emmett McMahon
10. Eoin Cleary
11. Killian Spillane
12. Colm O'Callaghan
13. Chris Og Jones
14. Donal O'Sullivan
15. Aaron Griffin

SUBS:

Darragh Brennan,  Damien Bourke, Darragh Cashman, James Naughton, Danny Neville, Chris Kelly, Conor O Currin, Sean O Dea, Maurice Shanley, Mark Stokes, Alan Sweeney, Caomhin Walsh, Sean Walsh, Paul Walsh

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