Madam, – Congratulations on your superb coverage of the World Cup qualifying match between Italy and the Republic of Ireland (April 2nd), which I note includes a page one commentary and photograph, and five substantial by-lined articles over two sports pages inside. By contrast the victory of Northern Ireland over Slovenia, putting them at the top of their qualifying group, gets a 550-word unsigned article, at the bottom of an inside page devoted to other soccer news. There were three Irish Timesreporters in Bari. Could one of your sports team not have been spared to make the short trip to Windsor Park for a match that to many Irish people was just as important? – Yours, etc,