Mullins edges out Horgan

Shane Horgan and John Hayes were the unfortunate casualties as the Ireland senior squad was pared down in preparation for Saturday week's opening Six Nations Championship game against England at Twickenham. It is unlikely that either will take immediate solace in selection for the Ireland A team to play England A at Northampton this day week.

Of the two, Horgan came achingly close to surviving the guillotine but the greater experience of Mike Mullins held sway. Ireland manager Donal Lenihan confirmed that the selection had provoked a lengthy debate. "We have been very impressed with the way Shane has played for Leinster this season. He's come on in a huge way over the past 12 months.

"But we felt that we needed to get the balance right between new blood and more experienced players. It was a close call. He (Horgan) is on the verge of international recognition. We have spoken to him and he understands."

Horgan was watched while playing for his club at the weekend by assistant coach Eddie O'Sullivan. His blossoming partnership with Brian O'Driscoll for Leinster in the European Cup suggested that it might translate to the international stage.

Lenihan was also complimentary about Shannon prop Hayes. "We have invested a lot of time in him, bringing him to South Africa two years ago and playing him in all the A internationals last season. He has progressed superbly with Munster this season.

"He's also not far from full honours, but with Paul Wallace enjoying full games against Colomiers and Gloucester for Saracens we had options. Our main concern with Paul was a lack of match practice, but he has got plenty recently."

The decision to move Hayes to the A match means that Justin Fitzpatrick will be the cover for prop in the Twickenham game. Indeed only one player in the trimmed-down squad of 23 will miss togging out and, injuries aside, that fate is likely to befall Mick Galwey. The absence of Andy Ward from either the senior or A squads was covered by a footnote in the official announcement stating that he had not been considered for selection. Lenihan elaborated: "We don't always pick the next best 15 to the senior side. In Andy's case we are aware of what he can do. We wanted to have a look at some of the young back rows.

"If there was an injury in the senior side then we would have no problem putting Andy in straight away." The composition of the A back row is still undecided. David Wallace (dead leg), Alan Quinlan (shoulder) and Eric Miller (flu) will all have to prove their fitness over the weekend. Only Llanelli flanker Simon Easterby is untouched by injury and will hope to join his brother Guy, named at scrum-half, in the team. The management know their preferred back row trio but will wait until Monday to make any announcement. If one applies the criteria which led to the exclusion of Andy Ward, the selection of Eric Elwood and Paddy Johns in the A team seems anomalous. Lenihan explained: "We wanted Eric to play. He has played at European Conference level and we wanted to give him a game at this level, which is obviously higher. Also there are a lot of young guys in the back line and we needed a bit of experience."

The "old head" syndrome was equally applicable to former Ireland captain Johns, who will lead the A team. "The front five are not overly experienced and we wanted someone there who could give them direction and help them settle."

Hookers Shane McDonald and Bernard Jackman were not considered because of injury, a fate suffered by Leicester's Geordan Murphy, who crashed into the pitchside hoardings while scoring a winning try for his club.

His absence is one that the management find particularly disappointing, as they were looking forward to seeing him play. Tyrone Howe, named on the left wing, is the player who benefits.

Keith Wood, Peter Clohessy, Ronan O'Gara and Brian O'Driscoll will all miss their respective club games this weekend to rest minor injuries.

IRELAND SQUAD: C O'Shea (London Irish), G Dempsey (Terenure), J Bishop (London Irish), K Maggs (Bath), B O'Driscoll (Blackrock), M Mullins (Young Munster), D Humphreys (Dungannon), R O'Gara (Cork Constitution), P Stringer (Shannon), T Tierney (Garryowen), P Clohessy (Young Munster), P Wallace (Saracens), J Fitzpatrick (Dungannon), K Wood (Garryowen, capt), F Sheahan (Cork Constitution), M O'Kelly (St Mary's), B Casey (Blackrock), J Davidson (Castres), M Galwey (Shannon), D O'Cuinneagain (Ballymena), T Brennan (St Mary's), A Foley (Shannon), K Dawson (London Irish).

IRELAND A: P McKenna (St Mary's); D Hickie (St Mary's), J Kelly (Cork Constiution), S Horgan (Lansdowne), T Howe (Dungannon); E Elwood (Galwegians), G Easterby (Ebbw Vale); M Horan (Shannon), S Byrne (Blackrock), J Hayes (Shannon), P Johns (Dungannon, capt), L Cullen (Blackrock). Back row from: D Wallace (Garryowen), E Miller (Terenure), A Quinlan (Shannon), S Easterby (Llanelli). Replacements: J Bell (Dungannon), E Farrell (Blackrock), D Hegarty (Terenure), AN Other, M O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution), R Corrigan (Lansdowne), A Clarke (Dungannon).

ST MARY'S COLLEGE: P McKenna; D Hickie, M McHugh, G Gannon, J McWeeney; F Campion, J Kilbride or A O'Sullivan; P Coyle, P Smyth, D Clear, I Bloomer, M O'Kelly; T Brennan, V Costello, R Doyle.

YOUNG MUNSTER: T Cregan; D O'Dowd, M Mullins, L Doyle, F Hogan; M Lynch, M Prendergast; D Clohessy, M Hayes, M Fitzgerald, M O'Halloran, P O'Connell, I Dillon or B Buckley, M te Pau, G Earls.

DLSP: S Stephens; D McCabe, E Devitt, N O'Riordan, M Cunningham; D Clancy, B Hogan; K Condron, S Cullen, N Condron, K Wheelock, R Frost, T Giles, D O'Brien, B Woods.

BLACKROCK: T Keating; M Price, M Jackson, D Quinlan, D Johnson; E Farrell, J Ferris; I McLaughlin, S Byrne, G Halpin, R Casey, H Kos, G McCarthy, L Cullen, R Rogers.

OLD BELVEDERE: D Martin; R Brown, A O'Shea, R Monaghan, G Rossi; D Schmude, S Keogh; T Mannix, A Linnane, R Keane, H McDonnell, A Briscoe, S Walsh, J Logan, M McLoughlin.