UNLIKELY Heineken Cup hero John Cooney could be one of the first targets for Sean Lineen, Scotland's new "super scout" after his controversial sacking as Glasgow Warriors coach.
Cooney, the Lanarkshire-born Ireland Under-20 scrum-half, came off the bench on Saturday to help Leinster power to a record third European triumph in four years at Twickenham.
But the Scottish Rugby Union may have to move quickly if they are to persuade the 22-year-old to throw in his lot with the land of his birth. Lineen yesterday admitted he was aware of the eligibility of Cooney, who was born in Blantyre, near Glasgow, but moved to Ireland with his family as a youngster.
His father, also John, was a prominent political and religious affairs journalist in Scotland and his uncle, Paul Cooney, was a well-known sports presenter and executive with Radio Clyde.
Cooney was called up to the Leinster bench to face Ulster in the Heineken showdown when internationalist Isaac Boss was sidelined by injury and sources in Dublin reckon the rookie also has an outside chance of replacing Boss in the Ireland squad to tour New Zealand next month.
With Cooney in the spotlight, Andy Robinson, the Scotland coach, and Lineen would need to stake their claim soon to have a realistic chance of luring him into a dark blue jersey.
Veterans Mike Blair and Chris Cusiter remain Scotland's first choice scrum-halves, but with Rory Lawson out of favour there is no clear-cut favourite to step into the berth when either or both of them retire.
A source close to the Cooney family said: "There was tremendous excitement when John received the call to be in the Leinster squad for Twickenham – and you can only imagine everyone's emotions when he came off the bench for the later stages of the match in front of almost 90,000 fans.
"It is hard to believe he now has a Heineken Cup champions' medal."
Cooney could add to his prize haul this weekend when Leinster take on the Ospreys in the Pro12 final in Dublin.
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