Seven months after she suffered the bitter disappointment of missing out on a place in the Irish squad for the under-21 European Championship, Trinity's Linda Caulfield has been invited to attend this weekend's senior squad get-together in Belfast by coach Riet Kuper.
The former Loreto Wexford player, an elegant and stylish central midfielder, captained her country at under-18 level and her omission from August's under-21 squad raised more than a few eyebrows.
Kuper, though, was sufficiently impressed by Caulfield's displays for South East in last weekend's under-21 interprovincial tournament in Galway to give her a trial at senior level.
Also invited to attend the weekend training camp is Pegasus defender Pamela Magill who helped the Ulster under-21s to their 14th successive title in Galway.
Caulfield, Magill and Lynsey McVicker have not yet been officially added to the panel but if they make an impression over the weekend, or in future training camps, they will add their names to the list of contenders for a place in August's squad for the European Nations' Cup finals.
Because of senior squad training there is a reduced club fixture list over the weekend but Old Alexandra have a chance to extend their lead at the top of the Statoil Leinster League Senior A table when they play Railway Union at Milltown. Loreto and Hermes, second and third respectively, are not in action this weekend.
At Grange Road, Fiona Brehony's Leinster squad will defend the Junior Interprovincial title they won on goal difference ahead of South East in Kilkenny last year. Leinster open their campaign at 9.30 (the term `drawing the short straw' springs to mind) against Ulster, the 1997 winners.
Leinster: M Goode, D Ryan, L Campbell, G Crawford, A Doran, E Doyle, R Gibson, V Jones, J Kelly (capt), O Kelly, J McEvoy, S McEvoy, L Montgomery, A O'Donoghue, V Ryall, C Smyth. Coach: Fiona Brehony.
Munster: M O'Donovan, V Sargent, B Casey, J Casey, J Day, F Hayden, J Hennebry, W Keegan, L Kehelly, L Maguire, A Mills, T Murphy, K O'Keeffe, M R Roche (capt), A M Ryan, E Scannell. Coach: Mike Haberlin.
Connacht: L McLoughlin (capt), S Harney, A Concannon, M Corless, S Coughlan, N Curran, A M Delaney, D Dolan, M K Heaslip, M Hendry, N Hutchinson, M Hyde, M Lynch, J Mackey, D McDermott, R O'Connor. Coach: Neil Kearns.
Ulster: S Rowe, N Younge, S Boal, J Campbell, K Dunlop, J Fisher, A Gilpin, K Greenhaigh, J Herbinson, J Irwin, C Lunn, S Lyons, C Mills (Capt), E Perry, M Rainey, D Speers. Coach: Marietta Lammey.
South East: P Farragher, N King, M L Brody, L Carthy, J Donald, D Gay, S James, D Keher, C Maguire, D Malone, L Murphy, P Rankin (capt), O Rynhart, J Stokes, S Sinnott, O Williamson. Coach: Dave Nolan.
