Athboy players in Republic of Ireland squad

A number of players from the Athboy rugby league club have been selected on the Republic of Ireland Eagles squad for a forthcoming series of games against Northern Ireland.
Casey Dunne, Matt Connolly, Paul McDonald and Shane Kelly have been included in the 20-man squad with all the players involved expected to feature in the two games against Northern Ireland. All of those players are registered with Athboy Longhorns for Rugby League purposes.
The first of the games with Northern Ireland is at Galwegians ground this Saturday, 3pm with the return fixture to be played at Portadown the following Saturday, 20th August also at 3pm.
From those games an all-island Irish squad will be selected for a schedule series of internationals against Italy, Malta, Jamaica and World Cup qualifiers against Russia and Spain later in the Autumn.
Dunne, who is from Duleek, plays rugby union for Ashbourne in their Leinster League Div 1 side and has already won a number of rugby league international caps.
Republic of Ireland squad - Alan Trenier (Dublin), Alan McMahon (Galway), Andrew Atonio (Galway), Andy Nyenhuis (Athy), Casey Dunne (Athboy), Cathal Evans (Galway), Conor Mackey (Galway), Gavin Doyle (Athy), James Kelly (Dublin), James Kenny (Dublin), Jason East (Galway), John Rhatigan (Dublin), Mark Beever (Athy), Mark Lawless (Cork), Matt Connolly (Athboy), Michael Russell (Dublin), Paul McDonald (Athboy), Peter O’Neill (Galway), Rob Armstrong (Cork), Shane Kelly (Athboy).