FIRST OFF . . .

Actor Matthew Broderick goes on trial today in Northern Ireland on charges of causing two deaths by reckless driving, facing a possible five years in prison if convicted in the Aug. 5, 1987, accident. A spokesman for Broderick said the 25-year-old film and stage actor was in New York over the weekend, awaiting word on whether he would have to appear in court in Enniskillen. Broderick was on vacation in Ireland with his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Grey, when the car he was driving collided with an oncoming vehicle. Anna Gallagher, 28, and her 60-year-old mother, Margaret Doherty, were killed in the collision, and Broderick was hospitalized with a badly fractured leg. Grey was not injured. Broderick attended a preliminary hearing Sept. 7 in a makeshift court set up in a Belfast hospital. If the court accepts a guilty plea to a lesser charge of reckless driving at today’s hearing, Broderick might only be fined.