Three uncapped players are included in the 16-man Ireland squad for the three-nation tournament at Padua at Easter. David Smyth (Annadale), captain of the under-21 side which won the European B division junior title at this venue last August, along with fellow defender Jason Black (Harlequins), have been called up by national coach John Clarke, who also brings in the young Munster attacker Colin Hanna (Cork C of I).
Chris Jackson of Annadale and Mark Tumilty (Lisnagarvey) were not considered because of injury nor were Robin Madeley and Gordon Elliott who will be playing for Three Rock Rovers in the European Cup Winners' Cup in Amsterdam.
There were a number of impressive performances by other young players in last Sunday's trials at Belfield but the nucleus of the squad which played in the World Cup qualifier in Kuala Lumpur two years ago is retained as the build-up gets under way for the European Championship in Padua in September. There will be ongoing assessment in the training programme during the summer before Clarke makes his final selection.
Ireland (squad for Padua at Easter): I Bateman (Harlequins), N Henderson (Pembroke Wanderers); J Black (Harlequins), P Brown (Instonians), N Buttimer (Cork C of I), D Clarke (Lisnagarvey), N Cooke (Instonians), A Dowd (Lisnagarvey), A Dunne (Cork C of I), G Goulet (Avoca), C Hanna (Cork C of I), E Lutton (Newry Olympic), D McAnulty (Banbridge), D Smyth (Annadale), J Steven- son (Lisnagarvey), L Tumilty (Banbridge); coach: J Clarke; manager: D Larmour.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)