Mick McCarthy has been singing the praises of young Ireland international Michael Obafemi after seeing the 19-year-old in action in Southampton’s 1-1 FA Cup draw with Spurs on Saturday.

Damien Delaney's football journey has taken him from Cork to the Premier League and back to Cork again. And along the way, he's encountered remarkable characters and learned valuable lessons that shaped his professional career.

Dunne, from Dundalk, has been called-up to Ireland squads in the past year, having played at U21 level.

Designing a coaching plan is easy. Coaching is not! If you know that, you know a lot already. Ciarán Deely outlines the secrets to getting the best out of your GAA training session.

Joey Barton has backed Paddy Madden to add to his solitary Irish cap.

Quotes to remember from the year in football...

Former Republic of Ireland international Wes Hoolahan is wanted by League One outfits Oxford United and Fleetwood Town.

West Ham will take on League One club AFC Wimbledon in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

TWO MINDS: Chris Kamara made the most of a rare seat on the ‘Soccer Saturday’ panel:

The 2018 GAA season has begun in earnest. One of the key talking points is whether Galway will retain their All-Ireland hurling title, writes Jack Anderson.

Joey Barton believes gambling is "culturally ingrained" in English football.

Interpretation can be a wonderful thing, it has the ability to decipher and unite in the form of

Sam Allardyce has ruled out returning to Crystal Palace after Frank de Boer was sacked just four matches into the Premier League season.

Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez has brushed aside claims he is fuelling the negativity surrounding the club.

Irish football legend Niall Quinn says he feels for any Athlone Town players who are innocent of wrongdoing, as the FAI launches an investigation into irregular betting patterns around the club’s 3-1 defeat to Longford Town in the League of Ireland First Division last Saturday.

Joey Barton has called on football to reconsider its links with the gambling industry after the Football Association banned him for 18 months for breaking its betting rules.

Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney, strikers at contrasting stages of their Manchester United careers, emerged from the shadow cast by the injury to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and invigorated their team’s hopes of an unlikely top-four Premier League finish.

George Boyd's first-time finish put Burnley well on the way to Premier League safety as they ended an eight-match winless streak with victory over Stoke at Turf Moor.

Liverpool 2 Burnley 1: With one casual, but extremely accurate, swing of his right boot, Emre Can settled this unpredictable game and possibly shifted the momentum of Liverpool’s troublingly inconsistent season.

A small piece of Robbie Brady’s past with St Kevin’s Boys Club in Dublin bore witness to his immediate impact on this season’s Premier League title race at Turf Moor on Sunday — even if the Burnley newcomer still expected a verbal volley from a watching Roy Keane.

Premier League

Mourinho is now the Premier League’s style counsel

Even Joey Barton could not inspire Burnley as they played out an FA Cup third round stalemate at Sunderland.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

Joey Barton will hold talks with Rangers on Thursday as the first step in resolving the midfielder's future.

Joey Barton has been issued with a notice of complaint by the Scottish Football Association after being accused of betting on football matches.

Portuguese defender Pepe doesn’t exactly make himself easy to like — one brutal temper tantrum, the kind that would make even Joey Barton blush, earned him a 10-match ban at Real Madrid after he raked his studs down the back of an opponent in 2009.

L’Equipe, France’s daily sports bible, ran a piece on the eve of the tournament on the players most likely to take our breath away and leave a glittering body of work in their wake.

Rangers are in talks with Joey Barton over a move to Ibrox, it is understood.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Diego Costa is unlikely to face disciplinary action having appeared to bite Everton midfielder Gareth Barry during Chelsea's 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat.

Liverpool 2 QPR 1: With just one more Anfield performance to go in a career that marks him down as one of Liverpool’s greats, Steven Gerrard gave another reminder of just how badly he will be missed.

Newcastle boss John Carver suspected defender Mike Williamson of deliberately getting himself sent off as the Magpies’ 3-0 loss at Leicester left them in the thick of a Barclays Premier League relegation battle.

West Brom 1 QPR 4: Joey Barton has urged QPR to use their win over West Brom as a springboard for survival.