'Fighting fit' Kelleher eager to push Ireland claim

Hooker Rónan Kelleher has declared himself "fighting fit" as Ireland boss Andy Farrell looks set to have a full squad to select from for Saturday's World Cup match against Romania in Bordeaux (2.30pm Irish time).

Leinster front row Kelleher had been out of action with a hamstring injury but speaking to the media this afternoon from the team’s base in Tours, he issued a positive update.

"I’m fighting fit and ready to go," said the 25-year-old, who alongside Dan Sheehan and Rob Herring is one of three hookers in the squad.

"I’ve been training fully and I’m just raring to get going now. I had a few little niggles there over the last couple of weeks but fit now and ready to go."

Back row Jack Conan (foot), prop Dave Kilcoyne (hamstring) and Sheehan (foot) had all been in rehab over the last month.

Kelleher, who has 21 caps, missed all three warm-up games, while Sheehan limped off in the win over England.

His recovery was ahead of schedule, Farrell said last week, but Sheehan would be unlikely to be rushed back against the Oaks, ranked 19th in the world, for the Pool B opener.

Scrum coach John Fogarty said that "no one is ruled out".

"We’ve got some brilliant people assisting the fellas through their programmes and we’ve got a healthy group.

"We’re so lucky to have such talented hookers. They’re aware that they’re in a competition with each other. It’s always been that way."

Kelleher added: "There’s obviously two ways of looking at it. You’d be thinking 'maybe I haven’t got a couple of games under the belt, which I would have liked’, but at the same time my body feels unbelievably healthy, so it’s great.

"You very rarely go into matches feeling 100% healthy. For me personally, first World Cup, really looking forward to it.

"It’s been