After months of speculation, Andy Farrell has finally revealed the final Ireland squad list ahead of next month's Rugby World Cup.
Ahead of this afternoon's announcement, it was thought that the vast majority of the 33 places available had been all but decided heading into this week. It was likely that a decision only had to be made on the final two or three places available, with much of the selection coming down to the way the Irish head coach opted to shape his squad.
Stephen Ferris made the argument this week that Farrell should consider bringing an extra forward to the tournament in France, although Andy Farrell has opted to go with an 18/15 split.
Cian Healy has not been included, having picked up an injury in last night's win over Samoa. However, Dan Sheehan is on the list despite his recent fitness concerns.
Here is the squad in full:
Ryan Baird (Leinster/Dublin University)(13)
Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers)(32)
Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne)(41)
Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere)(39)
Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College)(31)
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf)(67)
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy)(74)
Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch)(37)
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne)(21)
David Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians)(52)
Jeremy Loughman (Munster/Garryowen)(3)
Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Dublin University)(3)
Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution)(96)
Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch)(11)
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD)(54)
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD)(55)
Dan Sheehan (Leinster/Lansdowne)(18)
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD)(52)
Backs (15):
Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians)(47)
Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD)(21)
Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon)(12)
Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution)(6)
Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster)(100)
Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster)(26)
Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians)(16)
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers)(64)
Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD)(31)
James Lowe (Leinster)(21)
Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor)(13)
Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen)(106)
Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster/Naas)(6)
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD)(51)
Jonathan Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College)(captain)(113)
Ireland will get their World Cup campaign underway against Romania on September 9th, followed by a game against Tonga a week later. From there, they will face South Africa on September 23rd, with the final pool fixture against Scotland taking place on October 7th.
We could yet see further changes to this squad, with Andy Farrell having the ability to call up other players should any of those included on the final list get injured once the tournament gets underway.
Here's hoping that this group will be able to take Ireland far into the tournament.
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