George Dockrell will captain an Ireland squad of 15 in the ICC Under-19 World Cup which takes place in Australia from 4-26 August.
For Ireland coach Ryan Eagleson, finalising the squad has been one of the most difficult tasks he has undertaken.
"It's been exceptionally tough for myself and my fellow selectors as we tried to finalise the squad," said Eagleson. There's a great depth of talent now in Irish cricket.
Eagleson added: "We've picked a squad which we feel has a genuine chance of progression in the World Cup. There's a good balance to the squad and real depth in all the disciplines which should give us plenty of options.
Squad: George Dockrell (captain), Scott Campbell, Peter Chase, Adam Coughlan, Shane Getkate, Ryan Hunter, Tyrone Kane, Robin Kelly, Andrew McBrine, Graeme McCarter, Barry McCarthy, Alistair Shields, Patrick Tice, Jason Van der Merwe, Ben Wylie
Reserves: Ross Adair, Robert Forrest, Hugh MacDonnell, Sam Shannon
Irish skipper Dockrell has been in prolific form this season, and is hopeful of Ireland continuing to impress on the world stage.
"I'm really looking forward to the tournament as a whole, testing ourselves against the best nations at this level with a group of guys who I've played with all through the various age groups," said Dockrell.
"There's an expectation now surrounding Irish cricket as the senior side has done so well in previous World Cups with a number of big scalps and we'll be attempting to emulate that success.
"We haven't beaten a major Test playing nation yet at this level so we'd like to take the spirit and attitude of the senior squad into our cricket and hopefully get a major scalp at this tournament.
"On the other side of the coin there's a certain respect now when Irish cricket is mentioned. Teams know we won't be a walkover and we're going to give them a good fight. They know they're going to have to be at their best as we can challenge them and potentially beat them.
"There's no doubt we've been drawn in a very strong group with a very talented England side and the defending champions Australia with so many talented players in their ranks on their home soil isn’t going to be easy.
"However, the composition of the tournament means that if we can manage a win against one of them we could find ourselves qualifying. Anything can happen in cricket - one batsman or bowler can put their hand up on the day and anything's possible.
"We'll be going out there with the attitude that we can win one if not two of those games and progress to the next round."
While Ireland's preparations have been hampered by having five of their six warm-up games washed out, they will face England in two youth ODI's games at Leicester on 18 and 20 July.
They depart for Australia on 25 July for a training camp in Darwin ahead of the start of the World Cup. The warm-up will include games against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in Brisbane, before the tournament proper gets under way for them on 12 August against England.
