The Irish rugby squad for the 2021 Guinness Six Nations has been announced.
Disappointingly from a local point of view, Carlow man Ed Byrne’s name doesn’t appear on the team list despite being part of Ireland’s 2020 six nations squad.
He’s not long back from injury which could be factor in the decision by management.
There are two uncapped players in the squad of 36 players, Munster’s Craig Casey and Ulster’s Tom O’Toole.
“Italy Ireland. The last scrum of the match” by Antonio Cinotti is licensed under CC by-nc-nd-2.0 
O’Toole was named in the Ireland squad at the start of the 2020 Championship while Casey, who won a Grand Slam with the Ireland U20s in 2019, trained with the squad last October.
Jonathan Sexton will captain the squad for a second Championship campaign.
Jacob Stockdale is not named in the side with Ireland coach Andy Farrell saying “Unfortunately Jacob Stockdale will not be available to us.”
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell and captain Jonathan Sexton
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Ulster’s John Cooney is missing from the side showing a lack of favour with the Irish management despite good form from the former Leinster players of late.
Andrew Conway is included in the panel despite not playing the last few games for Munster with no concrete explanation as to his absence.
Tadhg Furlong returns to the Ireland set up having been injured for the past year but Andy Farrell says he is ready to join the group.
Ireland Squad – Guinness Six Nations Championship 2021
Backs (17)
Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 30 caps
Billy Burns (Ulster) 3 caps
Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 11 caps
Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) uncapped
Andrew Conway (Munster/Garryowen) 24 caps
Shane Daly (Munster/Cork Con) 1 cap
Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster) 88 caps
Chris Farrell (Munster/Young Munster) 14 caps
Jamison Gibson Park (Leinster) 5 caps
Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers) 47 caps
Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 6 caps
Jordan Larmour (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 24 caps
James Lowe (Leinster) 2 caps
Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 4 caps
Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 87 caps
Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 30 caps
Jonathan Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 95 caps Captain
Forwards (19)
Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 17 caps
Will Connors (Leinster/UCD) 5 caps
Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 7 caps
Ultan Dillane (Connacht/Corinthians) 17 caps
Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf) 25 caps
Cian Healy (Leinster/Clontarf) 104 caps
Dave Heffernan (Connacht/Buccaneers) 5 caps
Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 58 caps
Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 16 caps
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 6 caps
Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 39 caps
Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 73 caps
Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Banbridge) uncapped
Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 32 caps
Quinn Roux (Connacht/Galwegians) 16 caps
Rhys Ruddock (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 26 caps
James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 32 caps
CJ Stander (Munster/Shannon) 46 caps
Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 28 caps
Ireland has just two fixtures at the Aviva Stadium in the 2021 Guinness Six Nations hosting France in Round 2 and England on the final weekend of the Championship.
Ireland Guinness Six Nations 2021 Fixtures
Wales v Ireland
Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Sunday 7th February, KO 15.00
Ireland v France
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Sunday 14th February, KO 15.00
Italy v Ireland
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Saturday 27th February, KO 14.15
Scotland v Ireland
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Sunday 14th March, KO 15.00
Ireland v England
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Saturday 20th March, KO 16.45
