Ross Byrne will get his opportunity to impress at out-half as Joe Schmidt has recalled some frontline players for Saturday's World Cup warm-up clash with England (kick-off 3pm).
Joey Carbery’s ankle injury has opened the door for Byrne and Jack Carty and while the Connacht man came on against Italy last time out, it is the Leinster out-half who will lead the backline at Twickenham.
First choice No.10 Johnny Sexton missed training at the start of the week in Ireland's warm-weather camp in Portugal as he recovers from a thumb sprain.
Byrne is partnered at half-back by Conor Murray with Garry Ringrose and Bundee Aki getting the nod in midfield.
Keith Earls, who also sat out training earlier this week, does not make the match-day squad and the back three comprises of Rob Kearney, Jordan Larmour and Jacob Stockdale.
Cian Healy, captain Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong get their first run out of the season as a front row unit, while towering lock Jean Kleyn will win his second cap alongside Iain Henderson.
Schmidt has opted for a back row of Peter O'Mahony, Josh van der Flier and CJ Stander.
"He has trained really well," said Schmidt of 24-year-old Byrne, who featured against the USA and Italy last November.
"It's not his debut, he's had time with us before, so we've got a lot of confidence in him anyway.
"I think he built his way through the season. He was maybe not as impressive as Jack early in the season and I think those two have become really important to us.
"Joey has done well this week. Johnny is fine but he missed a bit of time with his thumb so he's a little bit behind.
"We know how well he plays fresh, we don't feel like he needs a lot of time with the experience that he has got. We don't need him till next week or the week after, depending how these two guys go on Saturday.
"So for us, the guys that need the time are Ross and Jack and they've got the opportunity to do that at the weekend. They'll both get a bit of time on Saturday to demonstrate what they can bring to the game.
"They probably wouldn't have had this opportunity as much on the back of Joey's 50 minutes against Italy. He controlled the game really well."
Schmidt added that he had selected Kleyn ahead of Devin Toner to help further assess whether the South African convert can stake a place in the World Cup squad.
"We gave him some things to work on from last time so we want to see if those things can materialise.
"Because he is so new in we felt it was a priority for him to get the time. Dev knows our game inside out so needed less of the time.
"Iain Henderson has trained so well this week, we're looking forward to seeing him out there.
"It also gives Tadhg Beirne another opportunity to be that cover-all back-row/second-row, not that he's not good enough to start either of those positions but it's nice security having him cover 6,8 or 5."
Jack Conan, Dave Kilcoyne and Robbie Henshaw are yet to included in the warm-up games but Schmidt confirmed the trio had all trained this week.
Ireland team: Rob Kearney; Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Ross Byrne, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best (captain), Tadhg Furlong; Iain Henderson, Jean Kleyn; Peter O'Mahony, Josh Van der Flier, CJ Stander.
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Jack McGrath, Andrew Porter, Devin Toner, Tadhg Beirne, Luke McGrath, Jack Carty, Andrew Conway.
George Ford and Owen Farrell meanwhile will pair up from the start for the first time in 14 months against Ireland.
Ford continues at out-half with captain Farrell starting at inside centre and lining up alongside Manu Tuilagi in midfield.
England: Elliot Daly; Joe Cokanasiga, Manu Tuilagi, Owen Farrell, Jonny May; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Joe Marler, Jamie George, Kyle Sinckler; Maro Itoje, George Kruis; Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Mako Vunipola, Dan Cole, Courtney Lawes, Mark Wilson, Willi Heinz, Piers Francis, Jonathan Joseph.
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