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12 Nov 2025
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12 Nov 2025
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Carrick-on-Shannon's Diarmaid O'Connell selected for Ireland friendly with South Africa
Carrick-on-Shannon RFC members will be glued to their screens on Friday night when Diarmaid O’Connell lines out with the Ireland Rugby U20 team in a high profile challenge match against South Africa on Friday evening, November 14, in Cork’s Virgin Media Park.
The former Carrick RFC and Sligo Grammar School student is one of four Connacht players in the 23 strong squad with Diarmaid joined by two fellow Corinthians clubmates Sean Walsh and Daniel Ryan in the starting 15 to take on the southern hemisphere giants.
O’Connell, a winner in the Leitrim Sports Star Awards in the past, has represented Ireland numerous times at underage level and steps up to the U20 squad, sponsored by PwC, will be streamed on IrishRugby+ on Friday evening (Kick-off 7.30pm).
O’Connell follows in the footsteps of Shane Mallon who was capped at this level for an Irish U20 team that won the Six Nations in 2022.
Head Coach Andrew Browne assembled an extended squad of players for a training camp in Cork this week and has selected a strong Match Day Squad to take on South Africa in the opening match of the 2025/26 season. Leinster prop Sami Bishti will captain the side on Friday night with a number of players - including Charlie Molony, Tom Wood and Donnacha McGuire - returning for Ireland this season having been capped at U20s level last campaign.
Friday’s match will provide Browne and his Coaching team with a valuable opportunity to test squad depth and build momentum and cohesion ahead of the 2026 Men’s U20s Six Nations, which gets underway in February.
Tickets are available to purchase via Ticketmaster.ie and the game will be streamed live on IrishRugby+ thanks to PwC, the official sponsor of the Ireland U20s.
Ireland Men’s U20s:
Replacements:
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