May Paris date for Ireland against Les Bleus

IRELAND will return to the Stade de France next May for a friendly game that will function as part of Les Bleus’ preparations for the World Cup.

Martin O’Neill’s men have been booked in for a Paris date on Monday, May 28, the first confirmed fixture of the 2018 schedule for Ireland.

It is a return to familiar ground for O’Neill as that is where Ireland kicked off their Euro 2016 finals adventure with Wes Hoolahan scoring in a 1-1 draw with Sweden.

However, it is likely to be a younger party that travels this time around with Hoolahan one of the players that is expected to step away from international football ahead of the next Euros campaign.

Ireland’s run in the 2016 competition was eventually ended by France in Lyon, which was the first meeting between the sides since the infamous clash at the Stade de France in 2009 that was settled by Thierry Henry’s handball.

The FAI are also considering an away friendly against Turkey in March, a break from their preferred modus operandi in recent years with most of their non-competitive games taking place at the Aviva Stadium.

When Ireland have travelled for a friendly match, it has been to neutral venues for fixtures run by third parties – and a summer trip to the USA for a similar type of fixture has not been ruled out of the equation.

However, the last away friendly that Ireland played was a journey to Poland in November 2013 in O’Neill’s first week in camp.