The FAI have welcomed Uefa’s decision to postpone the Euro 2020 playoffs till June and the finals themselves by 12 months to 2021.

Ciaran Clark is likely to miss the Euro 2020 finals if the Republic of Ireland qualify and they go ahead as planned after undergoing ankle surgery.

It could well be the last such award for some time but the first SSE Airtricity League/Soccer Writers of Ireland Player of the Month this season has gone to Shamrock Rovers’ Jack Byrne.

Niall Quinn hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Ireland’s Euro 2020 play-off game against Slovakia being called off.

All fans who purchased tickets for the game in Bratislava will be refunded.

The prospect of Ireland’s Euro 2020 play-off against Slovakia taking place behind closed doors in Bratislava appears to have moved a step closer.

Troy Parrott and James McCarthy look like missing out on Ireland’s Euro play-off against Slovakia after manager Mick McCarthy insisted they both have a queue ahead of them to jump.

Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has lost his captain Séamus Coleman for the upcoming Euro play-off in Slovakia but believes his successor Stephen Kenny should be satisfied with the Uefa Nations League draw.

Having left his seat in Tallaght just before the winning strike, the Ireland manager says he had already seen enough of the midfielder’s performance to give him “plenty to think about” as he ponders his squad for the Euro 2020 play-off against Slovakia.

No Irish domestic or international football fixtures are currently under threat from the coronavirus but the FAI are in regular contact with government and UEFA about the spread of the disease and say they will follow expert guidance about any measures which may need to be taken.

James McClean is hoping that intensive rehab work he is undertaking in Dubai will help speed up his recovery from a knee injury in time to make him available for Ireland’s Euro 2020 play-off game against Slovakia on March 26.

Mick McCarthy says Shane Long is “back where we need him to be” to stake a claim for a place on the plane to Slovakia, while the manager is prepared to give Ciaran Clark and James McClean as long as he can to see if they are able to recover from injury in time for Ireland’s Euro 2020 play-off on March 26.

Mick McCarthy is almost certain to be without Ciaran Clark for next month’s Euro play-off after the Newcastle United left the Emirates on crutches on Sunday.

Mick McCarthy will keep the door open for James McClean to recover in time for the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2020 play-off.

James McClean has emerged as a major injury doubt for Ireland’s Euro play-off against Slovakia next month after sustaining a medial knee ligament injury.

“We all know it’s hard,” he said yesterday. “But we’ve got to believe we can do it. The first one is the key. If we win the first one, I think we’ll win the second one. We’ll get momentum (and) we’ll win the second one.

“I’m not bothered what length of contract he’s got, it’s about playing football, and he was deprived of that because of his age.”

Hannah Humphreys will play her first-ever competitive indoor hockey match this morning at the EuroHockey Championships III in Bratislava.

John Delaney's reign in national football administration is over after Uefa confirmed the ex-FAI supremo had resigned his place on their executive committee.

Irish fans will have access to an increased allocation of 2,200 tickets for the Republic's Euro 2020 play-off away to Slovakia.

The game will be played at the recently renovated national stadium which has a capacity of 22,500.

Slovakia have been given until December 20 to decide whether to host the Republic of Ireland in Trnava or Bratislava next March as Uefa continued planning for the Euro 2020 play-off draw on Friday morning.

The tallest office building so far developed in Cork City, Penrose Dock next to Kent Rail Station at up to nine storeys, is setting an even more impressive record: its first core and lift shaft is up to full height, less than a year after the €125m project on the city’s north quays first applied for planning permission.

Dear John,

Protests against mafia-controlled landfill sites have become platforms for liberal leaders such as Slovakia’s president-elect, Zuzana Caputova, writes Leonid Bershidsky

The star of Stephen Kenny’s Ireland U21 soccer team, Connor Ronan, has assured Ireland fans that he has no intention of emulating Declan Rice by defecting to his homeland, England.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused the country's president of destabilising the nation after the killings of an investigative journalist and his fiancee.

Police are conducting raids in eastern Slovakia on houses linked to members of Italian mafia, after it emerged a journalist was writing a story about them before he was shot dead last week.

A journalist shot dead in Slovakia was working on a story about the activities of Italian mafia in his country and their links to people close to Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Cork Airport has come a long way from the doldrum days experienced during the recession — it expects to handle 2.31m passengers, a 4% increase, by year-end .

Slovakia's constitutional court has ordered a lower court to review claims that the man who hopes to be the Czech Republic's next prime minister collaborated with the Czechoslovak communist-era secret police.

Furious Ryanair customers are bombarding the firm with complaints and questions following the latest batch of flight cancellations.

The ordination of six men as permanent deacons in the parish of Cloyne, in Co Cork, is a great example of the potential for lay people to get involved in ministry.

American car battery and building infrastructure giant Johnson Controls has confirmed a number of jobs are to be transferred out of its global headquarters, the landmark One Albert Quay building in Cork.

Dublin is among more than 20 European cities battling to become the new homes to two EU agencies which will leave London because of Brexit.

EU leaders struggle with threat to Europe’s budget, writes John Whelan.

From the meandering canals of Amsterdam to downing cheap bottles of wine on the sizzling Croatian coast — Kevin O’Neill explains the time-honoured allure of interrailing across mainland Europe.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to continue to “work closely” with the EU after Brexit but has voiced her unhappiness about being left out of a meeting of leaders.