Andy Farrell's First 5 Ireland debutants: Where are they Now?

The former England international officially surpassed Schmidt to the mantle following Ireland's quarter-final elimination to the All Blacks, with Farrell's first match coming the following year. The former Wigan Warriors rugby league player stepped up to oversee Ireland's 2020 Six Nations campaign, with the first match being a 19-12 win over Scotland for a steady start to his tenure.

Farrell has held the head coach position ever since, and has guided his Ireland team to an assortment of silverware. The men in green secured back-to-back Six Nations titles in 2023 and 2024, with the former accomplishment also bringing Ireland their first Grand Slam since 2018. Part of this more recent success has come down to Farrell and the coaching team bringing through and nurturing the best Irish talent found anywhere across the island.

In this article, we are taking a look back at the first five Ireland internationals to make their senior test debuts under Andy Farrell as head coach. Whilst some of these fresh faces fell to the way-side, others have proven to stand the test of time and remain firmly within the foundations of today's Ireland team.

We start off this list with quite a stand-out name from the Ireland team, as Andy Farrell's first ever debutant as head coach was none other than current captain Caelan Doris. The back row battler earned his call-up for the 2020 Six Nations, having impressed in Leinster blue over the previous seasons. Doris was utilised for the first match of the Farrell era, however a concussion just four minutes into the match against Scotland made it quite the short-lived debut for the man from County Mayo.

Nontheless, Doris had already proved his worth in the eyes of his new head coach, with his big break in green coming throughout the 2021 Autumn Nations against Japan, New Zealand and Argentina. The Leinster man etched his first points upon an international score-board in the clash with the All Blacks, with his career trajectory then propelled onwards into becoming a test match main-stay. In 2023, Doris was named Ireland Men's Players' Player of the Year, after a starring role throughout the Rugby World Cup.

Following the retirement of Johnny Sexton after the tournament in France, Doris would be named Ireland captain for the 2024 Six Nations. The back-row forward has held on to this title ever since, and was rumored to take up the armband for the 2025 British & Irish Lions, before a devastating rotator cuff injury denied him a place upon Andy Farrell's touring squad. Doris is back fit and firing now, with his sights set on leading Ireland to their first Rugby World Cup title next year in Australia.

Caelan Doris was not the only new-comer to debut in the first match of the Andy Farrell era, as Leinster's Ronan Kelleher also made his maiden cap in green during the 2020 Six Nations win over Scotland. The front row made his debut from the bench to help Ireland see out the win, and Kelleher has since gone on to accrue 47 caps in the green jersey. The hooker would bag his first try for his country the following year, as he crossed over against France in the 2021 championship.

Kelleher collected quite the unique try-scoring accolade the following Summer, as he wrestled his way over the white-wash on four occasions against the United States. This quartet of tries tied the record for the most tries from a single Ireland player in an international men's test match, with Kelleher then added into the wider training camp for the 2021 British & Irish Lions.

Whilst Kelleher did not make the initial grade, he was called upon to head down to South Africa mid-way through the series by head coach Warren Gatland. The 28-year-old would become a two-time tourist this past year, as Andy Farrell included Kelleher, alongside his Ireland and Leinster counterpart Dan Sheehan for the 2025 Lions tour of Australia. Kelleher featured off the bench in the send-off defeat to Argentina at the Aviva Stadium, and upon all three test matches in the series win over the Wallabies.

A third consecutive entrant comes our way from Leinster, as Farrell unleashed back row operator Max Deegan in the second round of the 2020 Six Nations. The versatile loose forward made a replacement appearance in the win over Wales, with an albeit brief nine-minute cameo to close out the contest.

Despite the fast start to life under Farrell, Deegan would sustain an ACL injury against the Dragons that Autumn, which kept him on the side-lines for the 2020/21 season. It took another steady season of hard graft to battle his way back into Ireland contention, as Deegan would return to the international stage for the 2022 Autumn Series clash with Fiji. Again it was a one and done appearance for the back row throughout the international window, who slipped back to the fringes of the wider Ireland squad.

Deegan has persevered to remain in the fold, and is certainly on the radar with an Ireland A cap against England A, along with a two-match run on the 2025 Summer Tour of Georgia and Portugal, whilst the Lions depleted the foundation of the squad. In Leinster blue, Deegan remains a valued member of Leo Cullen's squad, having featured for the Dubliners in the latest Champions Cup Final defeat to Bordeaux.

Deegan, along with his Leinster teammates, have their sights firmly set upon retaining the URC title over the coming weeks, with a home semi-final lined up this Saturday against the Stormers.

Next up on our list is yet another Leinster back row forward, as Will Connors made his mark for Ireland with back-to-back appearances to close out the 2020 Six Nations, once the tournament resumed in October following the Covid pandemic. The open-side flanker donned the green seven jersey for the fourth and fifth round clashes against Italy and England, in what was a strong start to life in this all-new Andy Farrell era.

Connors has since progressed on to make a total of nine caps for Ireland, and continues to ply his trade amongst the stacked squad depth of the Dubliners. The following year's championship brought about a further four caps for the up and coming back row, who seemed to be stamping his mark upon Farrell's first choice flankers, with replacement caps against Wales and France before progressing to start against Italy and Scotland.

However, Connors would suffer a serious knee injury in his latter run out, with the Kildare native then put on the side-lines upon a long road to recovery. Connors battled through a plight of injury set-backs, as he made just two Leinster caps throughout the 2021/22 URC season, and progressed steadily back into the fold for the following campaign. Whilst the 30-year-old is yet to return to the Ireland camp, Connors has shown great character in overcoming repeated set-backs, with his sights set upon a run with the Nations Championship this July.

The fifth player to make their Ireland debut under head coach Andy Farrell was none other than Sevens speedster Hugo Keenan. Yet another representative of Leinster, this makes it a clean sweep of five new caps from the Irish province back in 2020, yet the Dublin stronghold upon the Ireland team is being now steadily being prised apart by Ulster, Munster and Connacht.

It was quite the surreal Ireland XVs debut for Keenan, who was used to the roar of the international crowd following his three previous years upon the sevens circuit. However, Keenan made his Ireland debut in front of an empty stadium, such was the deflating atmosphere of rugby throughout the Covid pandemic. Keenan had to settle for an imaginary cheer from the sea of green, as he raced away for two tries against Italy, in what was a strong first impression to the 15-a-side test level.

Since then, Keenan has established himself as a first choice option with the Ireland full-back spot. Keenan would go on to start 11 Test matches for Ireland throughout the 2021/22 season, with the number 15 now tattooed upon his back as the go-to back-field orchestrator. Keenan was paramount to Ireland's run at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with his highlight being a pool-stage brace of tries against Scotland.

Keenan then starred with the Ireland Olympic Sevens squad at the 2024 Paris Games, before getting the call for a celebrated run in the red of the British & Irish Lions the following Summer, where he bagged the series deciding try in the second test. Following his run with the Lions, Keenan underwent a planned hip operation, and was set for his Ireland return in the 2026 Six Nations before an untimely thumb fracture curtailed the plans.