After a relatively dry day in most parts of the country yesterday FAI officials are hopeful that the remaining FAI Cup ties will go ahead as scheduled over the next couple of days. However, pitch inspections will take place before most games are confirmed.

This evening's games at Cobh, Ballybofey and Kilkenny are all expected to go ahead as planned, but there will be further inspections at Inchicore and Rathbane early this morning.

Every pitch due to be used tomorrow will be looked at over the course of today, but most are expected to be all right. The game between Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne at Tolka Park, which has already been postponed once, looks to be one of the doubtful games for tomorrow.

A meeting of the FAI's Executive Committee yesterday endorsed a decision by the officer board to reject an application on behalf of John Aldridge and Ray Houghton for a joint testimonial. In doing so, however, they added a rider that they may be prepared to entertain a renewed application at a later date.

Confirming that the game would not take place this season, an FAI spokesman said that the application had been received too late to enable it to be accommodated in the end of season fixture list. He said that the majority opinion of the committee was that neither of the intended beneficiaries met the requirement of 75 international appearances.

The FAI have, meanwhile, confirmed that they have agreed dates with the IFA for the Under-18 European Championship qualification play-off games. Both teams won their respective UEFA groups, but only one will go forward to the finals in Sweden. The first leg of the play-off will be played in the north on March 9th, with the second leg in the Republic on May 11th.