Ireland has been represented at the tournament since its inception in 2002. On that occasion, it was held in England and a full eircom League representative side, managed by Sligo Rovers' Don O'Riordan, participated.

Last year, the tournament was hosted by Wales and an eircom League under-21 representative side managed by Shamrock Rovers' Tony Cousins competed.

Once again, the Republic of Ireland will be represented by an under-21 selection drawn from the eircom League. The England squad will be drawn from the Vauxhall Conference, the Wales squad from the Welsh Premier League and the Scotland squad from the Highland and Northern and Southern Leagues.

As the other competing nations will be drawing their players from teams participating in leagues operating in traditional 2003-04 winter seasons, Devlin will be able to select his 18-man squad from players who were under 21 years of age at the end of the 2003 eircom League season.

Pat Devlin will announce his final squad next Wednesday, May 5. The final squad will assemble for training in Dublin on Sunday, May 16 before flying to Aberdeen the following day.

Devlin was selected by the eircom League Board of Control at its April meeting and has since chosen Shelbourne under-21 manager Frank O'Neill as his assistant manager. Cork City and Kildare County under-21 managers, Stuart Ashton and John Ryan respectively, have been named as coaches to the squad, while physiotherapist John Mellett of Sportsmed West, and kit-man Paddy Cahill (Bray Wanderers) complete the technical team.

Commenting on his appointment, Pat Devlin said: "It's a great honour to manage your country at any level and I'm looking forward to next month's tournament. There is a great pool of young talent available for selection and it's a great opportunity to showcase the quality of the eircom League on an international stage.”

The 2005 tournament is scheduled to be hosted in Cork next May to coincide Ireland with the City's tenure as European City of Culture.