Big Athboy contingent in Irish rugby league squad
Five players from the Athboy rugby League team are included on the Irish u-19 squad which has been selected to take part in the upcoming u-19 Rugby League European Championships in Italy.
Liam Hayes who is from Kildalkey, Jack Crampton (Edenderry), Ryan Walsh (Dunderry), Sam Webb Campbell (Rush) and Sean Treacy (Ballivor) are all part of the Irish squad for the Euros.
The championships start tomorrow (Thursday) and will continue until Sunday 11th September.
Four of the five players selected have a wealth of international experience. Liam Hayes has gained two caps at u-16 level and two caps in the u-20 grade.
Jack Crampton also has two caps at u-20 level while he was also selected to wear the green of Ireland at student level. Ryan Walsh twice represented Ireland at u-16 level.
Sam Campbell who also has two u-20 caps is contracted to the Huddersfield Giants Academy team.
Ireland take on countries such as England, France, Serbia, Wales, Italy and Ukraine in a round-robin format in the early stages.
There will be three days of action, starting with each nation playing the other in 20-minute games to rank the teams. The top four will then contest the championship semi-finals on Tuesday 6th September (80-minute games), whilst the teams ranked 5th to 7th will play each other once in 40-minute clashes on both Tuesday 6th and Saturday 10th, with the highest placed team in the three-way competition being presented with the European Plate.
The championship finals take place on Saturday 10th September (kick off at 6pm local time), preceded by the Shield final (at 16.00), contested by the losing semi-finalists.
The Ireland squad is: David Downey, Kevin Downey, Matthew Henry (Athy RFC), Jack Crampton, Liam Hayes, Ryan Walsh, (Athboy RLFC) Sean Treacy (Athboy RLFC & Tribesmen), Jamie Gill, Xanda Rycroft (Bradford Bulls), Rory Lynch (Cork Bulls), Ned Conroy (Crosfields ARLFC), Kyle Stacey (Dublin City Exiles & Portarlington), Odhran Brannigan (Dublin City Exiles), Sam Campbell (Huddersfield Giants), Louix Gorman (Hull Kingston Rovers), Conor Colman, James Downes (Longhorns), Nathan Connell (Shevington Sharks & Salford Red Devils), Scott Bradley, Tadhg Dowdall (Tullamore RFC), Patrick Stapleton (Unattached)
Missing from the photos is Sean Treacy.