European winners to kick off defence

It's time to start all over again for the under-age football stars who made history over the summer. Some of those who helped Ireland to both the UEFA under-16 and under-18 championships have since moved on but nine gold medal winners from one tournament or the other will be involved this evening when the under-18s kick off their qualification campaign for Sweden 1999.

They take on Cyprus at Tolka park this evening, with Russia and Poland to come later in the week. The winners of the four-team group will face Northern Ireland in a twolegged play-off before qualification is finally decided.

The rapid turnover of players in under-age international football means that Brian Kerr has less idea than he would like of what to expect over the coming days but, he says, he knows that he has plenty of experience in his 18-strong panel.

In addition to those who played in the European championship, several of those lined up to play tonight are in the first-team squads of major clubs or, as in the cases of John Frost and Greg O'Halloran, have established themselves as first-team regulars at home in the National League.

"It's going to be hard," says Kerr. "We've seen the lads from the other teams around the hotel around the couple of days and they all look big and strong.

"The Cypriots we know a little bit about from playing against them out there in July when it took a very good performance by us to beat them.

"But the Russians and Poles have huge pools of players to choose from and we'll have to wait until we see them playing each other before we can really judge how strong they are."

Five of the panel that won the under-18 championships in Cyprus remain eligible and Gary Doherty, Jason Gavin and Gerry Crossley are among those expected to play central parts in the Irish campaign.

Kerr identifies Liverpool winger Richie Partridge as a potentially key figure over the three games, for which tickets are available from the FAI or on the nights.

Ireland Under-18 Squad: Delaney (Everton), Murphy (Tranmere), Geary (Sheffield Wednesday), Gavin (Middlesbrough), Murphy (Blackburn), Frost (Waterford), Doherty (Liverpool), O'Halloran (Cork City), Byrne (West Ham), Healy (Celtic), Drew (HFE), McMahon (Newcastle Utd), Partridge (Liverpool), Baker (Shelbourne), O'Gragy (Sligo Rovers), Doherty (Luton), Barrett (Arsenal).

Schedule: Today: Rep of Ireland v Cyprus (Tolka Park) 7.30 p.m.; Wednesday: Rep of Ireland v Poland (Richmond Park) 7.30 p.m.; Friday: Rep of Ireland v Russia (Tolka Park) 7.30 p.m.