John Cooney’s bright start to the season has been rewarded with a call-up to the Ireland squad for a potential Six Nations decider with France in Paris on Saturday.
The Ulster scrum-half has been included as additional cover after Jamison Gibson-Park, who made his debut off the bench in last Saturday's 50-17 defeat of Italy, suffered hamstring tightness.
Cooney had been in line for his first Six Nations start against Italy in March before the Covid-19 shutdown.
But he was then omitted from the first Test squad post lockdown after he was slow to find form and was dropped for the PRO14 final.
The Dubliner has contributed 30 points in Ulster’s opening three games of the new PRO14 campaign, including a try in a 24-12 win at Ospreys a fortnight ago.
He chipped in with three conversions in Sunday’s thumping 40-17 win over Dragons in Belfast to make it three wins from three for Dan McFarland's men this season.
Keith Earls could also come into the reckoning after completing his rehab programme after a back injury sidelined him in recent weeks.
The Ireland squad returned to Carton House yesterday and will begin preparations for the France clash at the IRFU's high performance centre in Abbotstown today.
As was already known, Garry Ringrose has been ruled out of the remainder of the international window with a suspected broken jaw.
