William McClintock and Graham Kennedy called up into Ireland squad
The North West Cricket Union (NWCU) was delighted at today's news that William McClintock and Graham Kennedy have both been named in the Ireland men's senior squad for the upcoming series against South Africa.
Their addition brings the number of North West Warriors players in the panel up to six - William Porterfield, Shane Getkate, Craig Young and Andy McBrine also included against the Proteas.
McClintock, along with Getkate and Young (who is selected for both squads) is in the T20 panel while Kennedy joins Porterfield and McBrine in the ODI squad.
It's a huge hat-tip to Gary Wilson and the selectors and coaching staff involved with the Warriors who have put in a lot of work over the last couple of months.
Kennedy has already featured with the Ireland Wolves and travelled with the senior squad to Holland earlier this year, and this is a reward for the way in which the former Ballyspallen man has progressed in the past couple of season.
McClintock's call up is superb news for the player and for the club game in the North West. Still just 24, William along with his twin Gary and William McBrine had won five Senior Cup medals with Donemana by the time he was 19.
There was never any doubting his talent but unavailability hindered his progress within the Ireland set-up. Warriors Head Coach Wilson sat down with the player - a man he rereferred to as 'the cleanest hitter of a cricket ball you will ever see' - at the start of this season.
The results since then speak for themselves as McClintock has been thriving on this new-found freedom to play his own brand of cricket. And now he has found himself called into the senior Irish squad within a couple of months of his return to Interprovincial competition.
It is a fantastic opportunity for a player that everyone knows belongs at this level and all within the NWCU wish to extend our congratulations to William, Graham and all the players selected for this series.