Joe Schmidt has announced his 31 man squad for this month's Rugby World Cup.
The squad contains 17 forwards and 14 backs with Paul O'Connell captaining the squad. Tadhg Furlong makes the squad after making his debut at the weekend against Wales.
Schmidt has only picked two specialised scrum halves in Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan with Issac Boss and Kieran Marmion missing out.
Andrew Trimble and Felix Jones are among the high profile omissions in the backs with Darren Cave making the final cut.
Schmidt has picked 17 players that will be travelling to the World Cup for the first time.
The head coach confirmed that whittling the squad down to 31 players proved to be difficult, stating that "The players have worked incredibly hard over the past two months. Sunday was a difficult and very long day for the coaching team and an anxious one for many players. There were some very tight decisions, particularly in the back three and it was also a challenge to make sure that key positions were covered as much as a squad of 31 players allows."
"A number of players were very unlucky to miss selection. We know from observing past World Cups that it's important for us to keep track of their performances because some of them are likely to be involved in the tournament."
Ireland begin their campaign against Canada in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on September 19th.
1043 caps, 17 players making their @rugbyworldcup debuts. The @IrishRugby squad is... #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/lI5TCKjeAz
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) September 1, 2015
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