For the first time since 1926 Ireland played Wales. It was a side drawn from club cricket in Wales. Ireland won by 260 runs at 1 pm on the third day. With one exception it was the biggest run margin ever. The exception was against MCC and Rathmines in 1936 when the margin was 285 runs. Ireland restored Duffy for O'Brien and brought in batsman WI Lewis for Torrens. The latter, who will not play on Sundays, announced his retirement from international cricket for this reason. This meant there were again only four front-line bowlers, two fast and two slow. The dangers of this policy became manifest when Goodwin broke down after the first innings. W Slade and D Ward cried off the Welsh team. Both were ex-Glamorgan players and they were missed. Ward's off-spin, in particular, would have been invaluable. The wicket at Cork was not as good as usual. It was bare and the bounce was inconsistent on the first day. Then it dusted and broke up and it took spin. However, it was still a slow wicket and not anything like as bad as the Welsh scores would indicate.

On a very sunny day Ireland won the toss and lost five wickets for 49. Only Anderson, and possibly Harrison, could blame the wicket. Thomas, Owen and Bunyan, the Welsh seam bowlers, bowled well and accurately. After a brisk start Reith tried to turn a slower ball from Thomas to leg and was well caught, right-handed, by the wicket-keeper low on the leg side. 13-1-4. At 22 Pigot lobbed a catch to backward short leg off bat and pad. It was well scooped up by Clayton. Next ball Anderson got one that lifted, but slowly. He let the bat go with one hand and was well taken by Thomas at forward short leg. Harrison and O'Riordan added 20. Then, first ball after drinks, O'Riordan was bowled by a straight ball from Bunyan. At 49 Harrison flashed at a ball that got up a little and was caught behind. Bunyan and Owen had taken two wickets each. From that point on Ireland began a recovery. Dineen and Lewis took the score to 84 by lunch. Paynter, a slow left arm roller, was given a spell. In his second over, with the score on 62, Lewis gave him an easy caught and bowled chance which was dropped. Paynter hurt his hand and Owen returned. Off him, Lewis was dropped by Davies at first slip with the score on 72. At lunch, with the score on 84, Dineen was 21 and Lewis 18.

Paynter and Owen bowled after lunch and, at 92, Lewis was caught low at first slip by Davies while flicking at Owen. 92-6-18. Duffy arrived and Dineen was playing very well. 100 came up and, at 114, the leg spin of Clayton was tried for three overs which yielded 14 runs. At a few minutes to 3 pm Dineen arrived at a chanceless 50 in 104 minutes when the score was 124. The pair added 50 in 66 minutes and then there was a drinks break. This, and a flapping tarpaulin at the screen, seemed to put Dineen off. Paynter had begun a new spell and Dineen hoisted his second ball to long-on where Thomas took a good catch. 142-7-59. In the same over Monteith looked to be caught at slip via the wicket-keeper's pad but was given not out. Monteith swung the bat and hit three fours and was then caught and bowled by Thomas with the score on 162. He should surely have trying to stay with Duffy. Goodwin faced his first ball from Paynter. There was an appeal for a catch at the wicket, given not out. Goodwin then made 16 out of 22 added. Then Bunyan replaced Thomas and bowled a firm footed Goodwin. Colhoun came in at 4 pm. He saw Duffy dropped at the wicket off Clayton at 206 when he was 34. Colhoun played very straight and Duffy did his best to get some runs. Tea had to be postponed as the pair went on and on. Tea eventually came at 4 45 pm when the pair had added 30 in 45 minutes. The score was now 214-9, Duffy 41 and Colhoun 13. Afterwards 16 more were added in 10 minutes. Duffy went to his third successive 50 for Ireland in 159 minutes. Then, at 230, Colhoun pushed Clayton in front of the wicket; Duffy ran and was sent back; the wicket-keeper coming round hit the wicket direct before Duffy could get back. 230 was a good score after 92-6.

Wales went in with 65 minutes to go. KD Williams flicked Goodwin's first ball over leg slip. He repeated the shot off the last ball and lobbed it to Lewis at mid-off. Rogers, the number three, hit O'Riordan for two fours in his third over and was bowled by the last ball of it. 22-2-11. With the first ball of his next over O'Riordan had Lewis caught low by Goodwin at second slip. WG Davies survived the hat-trick. Monteith replaced Goodwin at 39-3 after five overs. He bowled well and began with three maidens in four overs. Duffy came on for O'Riordan at 42. Both batsmen stopped playing shots. Jones had played well over an hour to score 27. Off Monteith there was a confident appeal for a catch behind and Jones played on to the last ball of the over. T Williams, a nightwatchman, played out time with Davies (13) with the score at 54-4.

Next morning O'Riordan and Monteith resumed bowling and six wickets fell in less than an hour. In O'Riordan's first over, a ball stopped and kicked at Davies and he was caught at backward short leg. 54-5. At 56 T Williams played forward too soon to Monteith and lobbed the ball to second slip. Paynter and Clayton were together but, at 59, Paynter hung out his bat at O'Riordan and was caught at the wicket. Clayton and Thomas added 21 and took the score to 80. One more was required to save the follow-on when Duffy dived forward in the gully and scooped up a catch offered by Thomas off Monteith. With the score unchanged Bunyan swung at Monteith and was caught at the wicket. Clayton saved the follow-on but, at 84, he lobbed the ball from Monteith to mid-on, possibly looking for a single. In 40 overs bowled in two hours Wales were all out for 84. Monteith bowled well and the wicket took some spin. His line, however, was still not quite right.

Ireland went in again at 1 08 pm with a lead of 146. They scored 210-4 by 5 30 pm at a run a minute. Lunch came at 1 45 pm (play had started at noon) with the score 39, Pigot 20 and Reith 19. Paynter was given the sixth over and bowled three overs but did not spin one ball. He was not used again. The three quicker bowlers bowled 52 overs out of 62 bowled. Thomas bowled off-cutters in this innings and he it was who broke the first wicket stand with the score on 72. He bowled Pigot playing forward. It was, in fact, Pigot's 42nd birthday. 72-1-37. The stand had lasted 68 minutes. Reith was 33 when Pigot was out. He accelerated and went to 50 out of 95 in 92 minutes. It was his sixth 50 for Ireland in his 24th innings, a very high rate. Harrison was playing well on the off-side. Thomas changed ends and, at 115, got one to kick at Harrison who was caught around the corner off his gloves. 115-2-21. In Thomas's next over Reith flicked the ball off his toes and was caught low at mid-on. 118-3-55. Anderson was never entirely happy. When 10 he gave the wicket-keeper an unaccepted diving left-handed catch off Bunyan. At 150 he got one that "stopped" from Owen and lobbed it gently back to him. 150-4-12. The score at tea was 151-4, O'Riordan 18, Dineen 0. In 40 minutes after tea O'Riordan and Dineen added 60 and both were scoring freely. D.Jones hurt his finger and John Whittaker of Cork substituted. At 195 he dropped O'Riordan (40) starting late from extra cover to catch a mis-drive. The declaration set Wales 357 to win and there were 80 minutes play left today. Thomas had taken 3-80 in 25 overs and Owen 1-40 in 18.

O'Riordan bowled at the Road end to start. In the first innings he had used the tennis courts end. With his fifth ball he bowled KD Williams around his legs. Due to muscle trouble Goodwin bowled only one over and gave way to Reith. Rogers and Lewis continued slowly. O'Riordan came off after four overs and Monteith came on. Anderson replaced Reith at 30 to an extraordinary defensive field. Monteith bowled Rogers around his legs (sweeping) at 31. At 6 45 pm an appeal against the light was upheld. The score was now 32-2 with Lewis 9 and Clayton 0, off 22 overs.

The match lasted a further 90 minutes on the last day and Ireland won by 260 runs. Monteith held sway at one end and took five more wickets to finish with 6-40 and 11-66 in the match. O'Riordan bowled eight more overs but did not take a wicket. He gave way to Duffy who took the last two wickets. At 40 Reith caught Lewis low and right reaching forward. At 42 Clayton pushed O'Riordan to Anderson's right at cover. He went for a run, was sent back by Davies but Anderson hit his wicket direct with a fast throw. 42-4-1. Jones came in and saw Davies hit Monteith for three fours in two overs. At 54 Jones drove O'Riordan and Harrison dropped the catch at wide mid-off after a juggle. At 59 Jones advanced to Monteith, mis-droll, and was caught at short extra cover. Next over from Monteith Reith picked up another good catch at second slip very similar to his dismissal of Lewis earlier. 59-6. Thomas lobbed his first ball to where a mid-off might have been but Monteith started much too late for a caught and bowled. Davies and Thomas now added 21. Duffy came on with the score at 69. Then Reith dropped Thomas left-handed at slip off Monteith.

At 80, Davies, who hit six fours in his 28, played on dabbing at the ball. In the same over Colhoun rushed to square leg to catch a skier off Bunyan. It was his 100th victim in his 51st match. With the score on 84, Thomas played over a flighter from Duffy. The last pair added 12, including the first six of the match. It was hit by T Williams over mid-off Duffy. At 95 Duffy, turning and running back from gully, dropped a lobbed shot from Owen. In fact Duffy got the last wicket when he had Owen stumped after an appeal previously for a catch at the wicket was turned down. Following Anderson in the last match Duffy went to 1,000 runs in this one. Monteith bowled better in this innings. His line was nearer the stumps.