Trio’s absence telling

The absence of James McGee, Louk Sorensen and Sam Barry was sorely felt as Ireland were left facing a 2-0 deficit yesterday after the opening two singles contests in the Davis Cup tie against Belarus in Minsk.

Without Ireland’s top three ranked players, Garry Cahill’s charges were always going to struggle in the first round Europe-Africa Zone Group Two first round clash.

Slim hopes that Mayo man Daniel Glancy would build on his win in his debut match against Finland’s Micke Kontinen at Castleknock last April were dashed as Dmitry Zhyrmont romped to a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 success

The East European outfit maintained their 100 per cent record when their top player, Egor Gerasimov, dismantled debutant John Morrissey 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 in the second battle.

With three matches left, Belarus have only to come up trumps in today’s doubles to clinch a second round tie against Egypt or Moldova in April, leaving Ireland to face a relegation play-off against the Egypt-Moldova clash losers.

With doubles former world No 1 Max Mirnyi, the only survivor on either team from the countries’ only previous meeting in Dublin in May 1997, in their ranks, the host country are red-hot favourites to establish a 3-0 lead.