Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy experienced some pre-Amsterdam pressure when he played in the FAI's Charity golf outing for the Donie Forde Trust and CROI organisation at Citywest last week. McCarthy's team of FAI chief executive Bernard O'Byrne, his brother Justin and the FAI TV adviser Laurance St John had to go to the very last hole before the Garda team from Donnybrook led by Eddie Hyland were awarded fourth place, each having scored 96 points.

The winner for the second year in a row with the huge score of 102 points was the Marchmont Packaging team of Pat Doran, Brendan Mulqueen, Tony Kelly and Michael Carroll. In second place on 98 points were the Drake Inn team, with Malahide United third on 97. Both the Donie Forde Trust and CROI received £6,000 from the outing.