European Cup/Gloucester v Ulster: Where do you start with Tommy Bowe? It might be the under-17 intercounty Gaelic football career with Monaghan and of how he told his pals back in Royal School Armagh how his weekend immersed in "Gaeldom" had been a blast.

It could also be how Waterford-born father, Paul, a 1970 schools rugby senior cup winner with Newbridge, ended up in Emyvale, Monaghan, and sent his son to school in Armagh.

Oh, and his mother, Ann? She's from Kildare and played hockey for Leinster Schools. His sister Hanna, too.

A family with a broad sporting background, Bowe's issue now is where he will go in rugby. The track so far has been fast and pretty straight. A player who knows how to take chances on and off the field, the Ulster winger has recently come into Ireland manager Eddie O'Sullivan's world. For a 20-year-old that's heady enough. His next step is to shake hands and introduce himself to Denis Hickie and Shane Horgan, then wonder how he's going to take their place.

"It came as an absolute shock when I was told I'd been brought into the squad," says Bowe, who is also an Engineering student at University of Ulster.

"I'd not considered it at all and I never even knew that a squad was being picked. I was at an Ulster thing when the BBC came and told me that I'd been picked. Total surprise."

For Bowe, the Gaelic football was an enjoyable diversion. It allowed him keep a foot in with his pool of friends at home and kept him lean and fit in the summer months. Rugby was always the end point.

Having missed out on a schools cap, an early disappointment, he seems to have made up for early prizes that slipped through his fingers. This season, if he is not needed at a higher level, will be his third year playing in the under-21 set-up.

While last season ended in despair at the Under-21 World Cup in Scotland in June, the months between have been kind.

"That injury in the World Cup was a serious blow," he says. "At the time it was the worst thing that could have happened. When I was told I'd to leave the team during the competition it was a very sad time for me. I knew the team could do well. Everyone was close and there was a lot of talent."

The damaged nerve in his shoulder would take two months to clear up as Ireland played a storming run to the World Cup final, falling just at the last hurdle to New Zealand. Since then his career has not only fallen back into the correct trajectory but taken off and, under Ulster and former Irish under-21 coach Mark McCall, Bowe is comfortable.

"I only really started playing on the wing on the under-21s last season. Before that I was a full back cum centre. I'm reasonably versatile," he says.

"But the main thing for me once I got the nod from Ulster was to hold down my place, figure week in, week out. Anything else was an added bonus. Mark McCall knew in certain areas what I could do. I knew I'd to prove myself with the Ulster boys in training and that, but he knew what I could do."

McCall also knew that Bowe picked up the award for best Irish under-21 player last season. Quite a grab with players of the calibre of Trinity's Jamie Heaslip around.

This weekend, Bowe will push O'Sullivan's flattering offer to the side as Gloucester cast quite a shadow over Ulster's European ambitions. The Ulster form has been off, but Bowe is receptive only to the team strengths.

"For all of the matches I've played this season I've never really been worried about losing. For every team we've played we've been the better team, but maybe not performing. We knew there was nothing too serious wrong. A bit of bad luck, not clicking, those things."

The faith is strong. There are no issues. Nobody ever said a Monaghan man couldn't play for Ulster, or Ireland.