One hardly dare say it, one hardly dare think it even, but it's staring us right between the goalposts. With four games played in the international championship, it would seem that, as in last season, there is no outstanding side in the series. And you have to have a very short memory not to realise what that assessment means in a contest of handicappers, Ireland remain the most effective match winning side in the championship!!

Just after 6.00 pm on a dry April evening of last year, Victor Morrow left his home on the outskirts of Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh to walk the mile or so into town. Morrow worked as a machine operator at the Sir Richard Arkwright plastics factory 'in nearby Lisnaskea. He was working on the night shift and was walking, lunch box under his arm, into town to get a lift with one of his workmates. The Newtownbutler to Clones road along which he walked is a typical Fermanagh country road.