Champions Dundalk bounced back from last week’s first defeat of the season with an assured performance against Finn Harps in Ballybofey.

It might be way too early to try to predict the ultimate destination of the 2020 title, but Shamrock Rovers certainly made a convincing statement of their intent in that direction with this best-of-five win in what was a thrilling game against reigning champions Dundalk.

So often in recent years games between Dundalk and Cork City were potential title deciders.

Premier Division football returned to Tolka Park after a six-year absence — but there was no fairytale homecoming for Shelbourne as they came up just short in an enthralling encounter with Dundalk.

Champions Dundalk opened their season with a victory for the first time in three seasons as Dane Massey popped up with a 79th-minute winner to break Derry City hearts at Oriel Park.

On a dirty, stormy night in the Athletic Grounds, Armagh showed stomach for the fight on all fronts to boost their promotion hopes from Division Two while at the same time putting a considerable dent in Kildare's challenge.

Armagh conquered a storm as they battled to a deserved win over Kildare with just 14 men at the Athletic Grounds.

Mike Quirke’s Laois footballers recorded their first win of the campaign when they emerged with six-points to spare over Armagh at MW Hire O’Moore Park, Portlaoise, on Saturday evening.

John Fallon picks his League of Ireland team of the season.

A match between two teams who have provided nine of the 11 players in the 2019 PFAI team of the year.

Stephen Cluxton has spoken about his return from serious injury last season, his obsessive focus on self-improvement, and his admiration for manager Jim Gavin.

Dundalk will be without key midfielder Chris Shields for this weekend's FAI Cup final against Shamrock Rovers.

A Dáire O’Connor goal on the stroke of half time was enough for Cork City to end their SSE Airtricity League home campaign on a high with a gutsy win over old rivals and champions Dundalk at Turner’s Cross tonight.

Dundalk’s treble dream is still on although the champions needed Michael Duffy’s 89th-minute winner to break Sligo Rovers’ resolve in yesterday’s Extra.ie FAI Cup semi-final at The Showgrounds.

A first-half hat-trick from Daniel Kelly ensured that Dundalk remain on course for a domestic treble as Vinny Perth’s side booked their place into the semi-final of the FAI Cup after a hard-fought win over a battling Waterford FC at the RSC last night.

Dundalk remain four points clear at the top of the Premier Division following a comfortable 3-0 win over UCD in Belfield last night.

There was no sign of a European hangover from league leaders Dundalk FC as they put 10 man Finn Harps to the sword at Oriel Park last night.

Two goals inside the opening 33 minutes from Rafael Ratão and Aleksandar Čavrić killed the game as a contest and while the Lilywhites never gave up, even briefly threatening a mini-revival when Michael Duffy pulled one back midway through the second half, this ultimately proved a challenge too far.

Dundalk head coach Vinny Perth has called on Irish football fans to support his side as their Europa League qualifying campaign continues in Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday, after seeing his side progress to the second round of the FAI Cup with a 1-0 victory over Cobh Ramblers.

Dávid Holman’s goal four minutes from the end has left Dundalk with it all to do in Tallaght next Tuesday if they are to keep their Europa League dreams alive.

Gutsy Dundalk will go to Azerbaijan next week with a genuine opportunity of reaching the third qualifying round of the Champions League.

Dundalk will have to score in Latvia next Wednesday to keep their Champions League dreams alive after a frustrating stalemate with Riga FC at Oriel Park tonight.

Vinny Perth might be taking charge of his first Champions League match when Dundalk take on Riga FC at Oriel Park tonight but the experience built up in recent years means he won’t be taking the Latvians lightly.

Dundalk made it eight league wins in a row to cement their eight-point lead at the top of the SSE Airtricity League table with a comfortable victory over Waterford FC at Oriel Park last night.

So far the evidence would suggest Mayo are going down a similar route to 2017 for their qualifier odyssey.

Seán Gannon’s 73rd-minute goal was the difference at Tallaght last night, as Dundalk edged a nail-biting affair against Shamrock Rovers.

Katie Taylor has never been one for braggadocio but things have felt a little bit different during this, her fourth straight fight week on America’s east coast.

James Rogers SSE Airtricity League

Cork City suffered their first defeat under interim manager John Cotter as Premier Division leaders Dundalk took the points at Turner’s Cross.

In the fourth of a five-part series, Kevin O’Neill profiles the new Cork City electoral area.

Dundalk head coach Vinny Perth says he expects Chris Shields will keep getting better after the powerhouse midfielder signed a new deal at the club.

Georgie Kelly was UCD’s leading scorer last season with 14 goals to greatly help their promotion push last year before his summer move to Oriel Park.

Daniel Kelly ripped Finn Harps apart at Oriel Park last night with a first hat-trick of his career.

New Dundalk head coach, Vinny Perth, says that Saturday night’s President’s Cup win over Cork City was the team and management proving themselves.

Colm Collins blamed a frozen pitch in Páirc Esler for the horrific ankle injury sustained by Dermot Coughlan, while Kieran McGeeney was unhappy three key decisions went against Armagh in an action-packed Division Two draw in Newry.

England defence coach John Mitchell stoked the fires ahead of their trip to Dublin this Saturday by claiming that the defending Guinness Six Nations champions will “try and bore the shit out of us” at Aviva Stadium.

A massacre at Lewis Road. 5-20 from Crokes, each one of their 25 scores arriving from play.

Manu Tuilagi’s imminent England comeback in time to face New Zealand at Twickenham has had a calming effect on Eddie Jones’ underdogs, according to Ben Youngs.

Denis Hurley picks out five talking points from Dundalk's FAI Cup final victory.

On the night the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title returned to Oriel Park, Dundalk FC served up a five-star display against managerless Sligo Rovers.

Chris Shields will have his own gong to add to a league medal when champions Dundalk are presented with the silverware after tonight’s game against Sligo Rovers at Oriel Park.

Dundalk 1 St Patrick’s Athletic 1

Limerick 0 Dundalk 1

Goals in either half from Ronan Murray and Georgie Kelly saw Dundalk overcome Finn Harps at Oriel Park last night to book their place in the FAI Cup quarter-finals.

Despite the fixture coming in the middle of their Europa League double header with AEK Larnaca, Dundalk showed their commitment to domestic affairs by overtaking champions Cork City once more after the Rebels had moved two points clear.

Cork City will continue to look over their shoulders as Dundalk produced another demolition of Derry City at the Brandywell, the Lilywhites rarely moving into top gear to remain one point adrift at the business end of the Premier Division.