Six Nations team news:Geordan Murphy retains his place at fullback while Rob Kearney returns to the bench in place of Andrew Trimble in the only change in personnel to Ireland's matchday 22 ahead of their Six Nations game against Wales at Croke Park on Saturday (2.30pm).
Declan Kidney announced his starting line-up after today's training session in Greystones and has kept faith with Murphy, who put in a strong performance against England at Twickenham last time out.
"It was a difficult choice to make at 15," said Kidney at today's announcement. "Geordan was playing well all last season and he answered the call last week. I thought he played well enough against England to warrant a second run out.
"Rob has been working really hard to get back in, it's not like he's done anything wrong, I just went with Geordan on this one."
The other main talking point was at number 10 where the coach retains Jonathan Sexton in the starting line-up with Ronan O’Gara deputising from the bench.
"I'm sure everybody's going to talk about 10 and I've said before we have two great players at 10. There are other players to consider too. I thought Andrew (Trimble) was very unlucky to miss out for this one. Paddy Wallace has also been exceptional, I couldn't speak highly enough for him about the way he has gone about his work."
Captain Brian O’Driscoll will earn his 100th Irish cap on Saturday and believes he still has plenty to offer.
"At the start you want to get as many caps as possible then your mindset changes and you want to win as many times as possible. Then you get selfish and you want to win trophies," said O'Driscoll in reference to the caps milestone.
"You don't really look at it and say one day I hope to win a 100 caps. Certainly in recent years I've thought the next game I play in a green shirt could be my last. I don't think you can go too far wrong with that attitude.
"I'm not chopped liver just yet, we'll try and play for as long as the body and mind allows - and while the coach thinks you still have something to offer."
In the Wales camp, captain Ryan Jones has been ruled out against Triple Crown-chasing Ireland. The Ospreys number eight is nursing a calf muscle injury and will be replaced by Gloucester skipper Gareth Delve as one of three changes from the side beaten 26-20 by title favourites France last time out.
Flanker Martyn Williams will lead the side in Jones' absence, while there are starts for hooker Matthew Rees and lock Luke Charteris.
Rees, who makes his first start of this season's Six Nations after recovering from injury, replaces Huw Bennett and Charteris takes over from an injured Deiniol Jones.
On the bench, Dwayne Peel provides scrumhalf cover for Richie Rees after Mike Phillips suffered a knock during Ospreys' Magners League defeat against Edinburgh two days ago and was not available for selection.
And there is a place among the substitutes for experienced Ospreys lock Ian Gough as Wales look to revive their campaign after recording one win from three starts.
In-form Delve, meanwhile, wins a first Wales cap since the 2008 South Africa tour, and Williams captains Wales for the seventh time in his long Test career.
Wales coach Warren Gatland said: "Ryan has been managing his calf, but it has hampered his involvement in training. He needs to get it right for his own sake, as well as for his region, who have some big matches of their own coming up, and for the sake of the national cause as we count down to the World Cup.
"But it is an opportunity for Martyn, who is one of our key leaders, to captain Wales again and rise to that challenge after doing a good job against Scotland last year when Ryan was again forced to withdraw.
"This is a great opportunity for Gareth Delve, who we have been keeping a close eye on and who is also a leader himself. We feel we have a loose forward trio here who will be competitive.
"Ireland are an impressive and experienced side with a pack of players who have been around for a long time and who are tough players.
"We know we need to improve, but we do think we have the talent and ability in this squad to match any squad and are confident we are good enough to win this match if we can get things right on the day."
Ireland: G Murphy, T Bowe, B O'Driscoll (capt), G D'Arcy, K Earls, J Sexton, T O'Leary, C Healy, R Best, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, S Ferris, D Wallace, J Heaslip. Replacements:S Cronin, T Buckley, L Cullen, S Jennings, E Reddan, R O'Gara, R Kearney
Wales: L Byrne; L Halfpenny, J Hook, J Roberts, S Williams; S Jones, R Rees; P James, M Rees, A Jones, B Davies, L Charteris, J Thomas, M Williams (capt), G Delve. Replacements: H Bennett, R Gill, I Gough, S Warburton, D Peel, A Bishop, T Shanklin
-Additional reporting agenices