Jamie Carragher, a childhood Everton supporter turned Liverpool legend, says that the one player currently in blue he’d love to see playing in red is Irish international James McCarthy.

When Cristiano Ronaldo collected his third Ballon d’Or in January, it was to almost universal acclaim, based on a recognition that the award had indeed gone to the greatest player on earth in 2014, as evidenced by his Champions League medal and a staggering 56 goals for Real Madrid.

On the eve of his 70th birthday on St Patrick’s Day, Chelsea, Shamrock Rovers and Ireland legend Paddy Mulligan takes an eye-opening trip through his footballing past.

On a number of levels, what a lovely surprise that was to see Mr Damien Duff turning up all hale and hearty on RTÉ’s ‘Soccer Republic’ the other night.

At this late stage in the saga, it hardly required official confirmation that the trail had gone cold but, yes, just for the record, Martin O’Neill did concede yesterday that Irish interest in Harry Kane is definitively over.

Like Jose Mourinho, John Caulfield knows how to look after his own constituency, says Liam Mackey.

The business end of the Champions League has been less sweet 16 and more a knockout for England’s elite this week, another chastening trial for the self-styled ‘greatest league in the world’. 

Once again, it was all about Roy on our television screens this week. But this time it was not Yer Man, it was Yer Other Man, says Liam Mackey.

In Irish football’s roll call of arch-villains, he might be more Toto Schillaci than Thierry Henry, but as the man whose penalty finally did for Mick McCarthy’s team in that epic match in Suwon at the 2002 World Cup, Gaizka Mendieta always carries an extra little bit of baggage with him whenever he touches down at Dublin Airport. 

As Denis Irwin waxes lyrical about Seamus Coleman, the thought strikes that no matter how far the Donegal man progresses in football, he’ll still have some job on his hands to be recognised as Ireland’s best ever right full, writes Liam Mackey.