Heffernan and Doris in Ireland squad for Six Nations

North Mayo pair Dave Heffernan and Caelan Doris have been named in the squad of 36 for the Guinness Six Nations Championship.

Both men, who started their rugby journeys with Ballina RFC as minis, will be hoping to add to their tallies of five and seven caps respectively.

Jonathan Sexton will captain the squad for a second Six Nations campaign, while there are two uncapped players included – Munster scrum-half Craig Casey and Ulster prop Tom O’Toole.

O’Toole was named in the Ireland panel at the start of the 2020 championship, while Casey, who won a Grand Slam with the Ireland Under 20s in 2019, trained with the squad last October.

Ireland have just two fixtures at the Aviva Stadium in the 2021 Six Nations, hosting France in the second round and England during the final weekend of the tournament.

In the opening round Ireland will take on Wayne Pivac’s Wales at the Principality Stadium. Their first two games of the 2021 Championships, against Wales and France, will both take place on Sunday afternoons.

Ireland’s third round match is at the Stadio Olimpico against Italy, and in the penultimate round they will face Scotland in Murrayfield.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell commented: “Since the autumn international window, the club season has had a good few disruptions and the cancellation of the European fixtures means there have been less opportunities for players to show form or to return from injury and get some minutes under their belts.”

All Ireland games will be televised on Virgin Media in the Republic of Ireland. The schedule is as follows: Wales v Ireland, Sunday, February 7, 3 p.m.; Ireland v France, Sunday, February 14, 3 p.m.; Italy v Ireland, Saturday, February 27, 2.15 p.m.; Scotland v Ireland, Sunday, March 14, 3 p.m.; Ireland v England, Saturday, March 20, 4.45 p.m.