Ireland unveiled their hand for Saturday's Six Nations clash with the reigning champions France and accompanied it with a little wrap on the knuckles - at the behest of the players - for premature talk of the grand slam.

As a barometer of the mindset within the Irish camp it is clear the wounds of Paris last year are still fresh, with Brian O'Driscoll maintaining Ireland did well to keep an irresistible French side down to 44-5. As a result, Ireland are very much in one-game-at-a-time mode.

As expected, a fit-again Girvan Dempsey returns to the side at full back and, with Shane Horgan again ruled out, Geordan Murphy reverts to the right wing. A vacancy has been left on the bench with the management yet to decide between John Kelly and Rob Henderson, perhaps in part due to a slight remaining concern about Dempsey's groin problems.

Marcus Horan returns at loosehead prop in place of the injured Reggie Corrigan, with Justin Fitzpatrick restored to the bench, in an otherwise unchanged pack.

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan remained "pretty confident" Dempsey would start on Saturday. "He trained today without any problems. We do have to wait and see if there's any reaction but at the moment it looks like he's going to be fine."

The full back and outhalf positions had been the presumed topics of significant debate among the management, though O'Sullivan said Horgan's absence had clarified their back-three options.

"Geordan is capable of both positions (wing and full back) now and Girvan had a fine game against Scotland so I think we've got the best available back three on the field.

"At outhalf there was a discussion, as you'd expect, but to be fair to David Humphreys, his two performances to date have been top drawer and we've always believed in rewarding players for good form. Had the shoe been on the other foot, and had Ronan come in with two performances like that, it would have been the same decision to retain the form player. We're being consistent in that department."

Humphreys, incidentally, will be winning his 50th cap.

O'Sullivan welcomed the return to Lansdowne Road, where Ireland have lost only once in two years (over a year ago to the All Blacks) and where they've also beaten all-comers in the last two runnings of the Six Nations at home; all the more so on the back of two away wins which, he said, have generated the momentum he was looking for.

"Nonetheless, France are the reigning grand slam champions, who I know lost to England but that was probably because their place-kicker left his boots in the locker-room. They've also scored seven tries in their two games, and conceded just one, which isn't too shabby."

Hence, when he was asked if Ireland could win the grand slam, O'Sullivan welcomed the opportunity to play down this vexed subject at the behest of the players.

"The first thing is, there are only two games gone, and we have still to play France and England, as well as Wales. To talk of a grand slam is ludicrous until we've played more games."

Though O'Sullivan didn't mention it, he might also have had in mind the rearranged trip to Murrayfield two years ago in the truncated, foot-and-mouth championship, before which there also had been bullish talk of a grand slam, also culminating in a trip to Wales and a winner-takes-all shoot-out against England at Lansdowne Road. Of course, such talk was made to look pretty fanciful after the 32-10 defeat to the Scots.

All that said, O'Sullivan accepted Ireland had roughly an even money chance of winning on Saturday provided they deliver a massive performance.

"We have to deliver on our setpieces, which we have done, we have to deliver on our continuity, which we've done, we have to be precise in the backs and we have to defend well, which we've done. Then the game is there for the taking if we do those things. But I'm not going to talk down France at the same time, and if we lose it doesn't mean all the good work of the last 12 months is gone out the window. We have to keep a balanced view on the season."

The A team to play their French counterparts in Ravenhill on Friday night is notable for a switch between Gordon D'Arcy and Jeremy Staunton, with the latter being tried at outside centre where O'Sullivan admitted the search goes on for "a back-up replacement, though we'd always intended to try Jeremy there." With the World Cup in mind, it's a big chance for Staunton, if also a big ask at short notice after a season learning the ropes at full back. Connacht's Ronnie McCormack wins his first A cap.

IRELAND A: G D'Arcy (Leinster/Lansdowne); J Topping (Ulster/Ballymena), J Staunton (Munster/Garrryowen), D Quinlan (Leinster/Blackrock College), T Robinson (Connacht/ Buccaneers); P Burke (Harlequins), N Doak (Ulster/Belfast Harlequins, capt); R McCormack (Connacht/Buccaneers), P Shields (Ulster/Ballymena); S Best (Ulster/Belfast Harlequins), D O'Callaghan (Munster/Cork Constitution), J Davidson (Ulster/Dungannon), S Easterby (Llanelli), K Dawson (London Irish), E Miller (Leinster/Terenure College). Replacements: J Blaney (Munster/Shannon), P Bracken (Connacht/Galwegians), M O'Driscoll (Munster/Cork Constitution), A McCullen (Leinster/Lansdowne), B O'Meara (Leinster/Cork Constitution), B Everitt (Munster/Shannon) M Lawlor (Munster/Shannon).