France, Wales, Italy to oppose Ireland

France, Wales and Italy will provide the opposition for Ireland in a Four Nations tournament at Belfield in May, which will form part of their preparations for July's European Nations Cup qualifier in Finland.

Having been drawn in the same group in Helsinki the match against the Welsh in Dublin will be of particular interest to the Irish, who will be playing their first tournament under their new coach, who has yet to be appointed following the resignation of Terry Gregg last September.

Ireland had a comfortable 4-1 victory over Wales when they met in a friendly international in Cardiff last April and they will expect to top their group, that also contains Belarus and Denmark and take one of the three qualifying places for the 1999 European Championship finals in Hurth, Germany.

France, who have been drawn with Finland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the second of the two four-nation groups, are also fancied to qualify for Germany. They have played a number of internationals against Ireland in recent years, the last of which ended in a 1-1 draw when the teams met in 1996 in Edinburgh.

The Italians will be making their second visit to Belfield in two years, following their successful trip here in August 1996 when they beat the Irish 3-1 and drew 11 in two friendly internationals.

The match schedule for what is the fifth European Nations Cup qualifier was announced yesterday and sees Ireland open their campaign against the Danes on July 4th, followed by Wales (July 5th) and Belarus (July 7th). The final of the tournament, for which the Irish will hope to qualify, takes place on Friday, July 10th.

Meanwhile, at Wesley College tonight Muckross will attempt to cut Hermes' lead at the top of the Senior A table to five points when they play their game in hand against fourth-placed Old Alexandra.

Muckross must recover from their disappointing draw against Glenanne on Saturday and will be wary of an Alex team which, until their 3-2 defeat by Trinity in December, held the distinction of being the only team to have beaten the All Ireland champions in the league in the past four years.