Ireland captain Brendan Irvine qualified for Tokyo 2020 at the Copperbox Arena in London last night at a tournament that was abandoned because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Chris Hatterhall looks at what we learned as Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League.

Drugs are flowing into the country as our borders can’t be properly patrolled. It is one of the myriad ways we are suffering due to the under-resourced Defence Forces, writes Defence Correspondent Sean O’Riordan

With more than half of Irish students never having sat a computer-based assessment before the OECD’s latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, students here received a “significantly and substantially” lower score on the use of digital technology in class compared to other countries.

That I can say I feel for Richard Keogh this morning is not the same as saying that he was not guilty of an appalling error of judgment, to put it at its mildest, for his involvement in the events which culminated in the car crash on Tuesday night. One that saw two of his Derby County team mates arrested on drink-driving charges and the club captain and Irish international sustaining a serious knee injury.

Ireland has the eighth-worst coastal bathing water quality in the European Union, new figures reveal.

A frustrated Ryan Mullen believes his decision to push the pace on the opening lap of the Men’s Time Trial cost him a medal at the European Games in Minsk yesterday.

Paddy McNair’s first international goal saw Northern Ireland snatch a 1-0 win over Belarus and make it four wins out of four in Euro 2020 qualifying.

Hungary and Estonia are the cheapest EU countries to drive an EV.

Irish agriculture scores well in the EU for most measures of sustainable production, an advantage for which everyone involved deserves congratulations.

Ireland has emerged as the second-worst performer after Poland on tackling climate change.

A scintillating goal from Neymar drew him level with Romario in Brazil’s all-time top scorers list as they cruised to a 3-0 win against Austria yesterday.

Latest figures released by the EU show that Ireland had the lowest percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on its Defence Forces of any of the EU’s 28 member states.

The planned supervised injecting centre is a “specific” public health measure being taken to tackle Ireland’s very high drug mortality rate, the Government says.

Cork City 3 Waterford FC 0

European Council president Donald Tusk has said 14 member nations have expelled Russian diplomatic staff over the poisoning of an ex-spy in the UK.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe’s budget still runs the risk of breaching EU rules but Ireland appears to be out of any danger of facing sanctions when European finance ministers meet early next month, a report by Commission officials suggests.

Finally, a bidding ‘war’ Ireland has emerged victorious from, with Cork profiting from the additional bounce of the ball.

This is Ireland’s ninth time to be involved in a play-off for the right to participate at a major tournament.

Martin O’Neill probably had the best quote on the size of Ireland’s play-off challenge before he even learned the identity of his team’s opponents in Zurich yesterday.

What is the point of the play-offs?

Portugal and France secured their places at next summer's World Cup finals but Holland will miss out on a second successive major tournament.

European champions Portugal got the victory they required over Switzerland to book their place in next year’s World Cup in Russia.

Blaise Matuidi's early goal proved enough for France to secure a crucial 1-0 victory away to Bulgaria which put them back at the top of World Cup European Qualifying Group A.

Down to third place in Group D, but not yet out of contention for a ticket to the World Cup finals in Russia, Ireland’s hopes almost certainly rest on winning both of their remaining qualifiers, against Moldova in Dublin and Wales in Cardiff next month.

Belgium qualified for next year's World Cup by beating Greece but France were pegged back by a humiliating goalless draw at home to Luxembourg.

France steamrollered Holland 4-0 with the help of goals from Thomas Lemar and Kylian Mbappe as they edged closer to qualification for next summer's World Cup finals in Russia.

Trade Minister Pat Breen has opened the Ireland-Estonia Tech Bridge event in Enterprise Ireland.

Estonia, the only country in the world where voters elect their leaders through online balloting, is taking steps to fend off potential hacking attacks as cyber-security fears intensify.

Ireland lie seventh after the middle day of the European Athletics Team Championships in the northern Finnish city of Vaasa, with Brian Gregan scoring the only Irish victory of day two, alongside eleven top-six finishes.

Cork City have been dealt a massive blow with the news club captain Johnny Dunleavy is set to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

It’s not just politicians, business groups, unions and individual taxpayers who lobby government for tax changes. Government agencies and semi-state bodies also have a tilt at the Minister for Finance in the run-up to a Budget.

French President Emmanuel Macron has promoted his pro-European views in a series of meetings with leaders of The Netherlands, Spain and Estonia in Paris, with Brexit negotiations due to start next week.

A rising number of attacks against government sites and industrial control systems shows the need for ever-greater vigilance by national authorities, writes Peter Apps

Video replays took centre stage as Spain beat France 2-0 in a friendly at the Stade de France.

JP O’Malley talked to author Peter Conradi about the authoritarianism behind the growing tension between a former superpower and its neighbours in the Baltic and the EU.

Ireland would be the worst hit if Britain continues to head down the path toward a ‘hard Brexit’ divorce with Brussels, an in-depth Irish study of exports and imports across the EU has revealed.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has no complaints about his players’ heavy schedule.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan’s Budget 2017 has passed muster with the European Commission but Ireland has been warned again about the State relying on the one-off bounty from booming corporate tax revenues.

“It’s a scoreline that will echo around Europe,” Clive Tyldesley told viewers excitedly as England neared the final whistle at Wembley on Friday night. 

The Croatian federation has been fined 50,000 Swiss francs by FIFA for the "inappropriate behaviour" of the national team's fans during a World Cup qualifier against Kosovo on October 6.

European champions Portugal were brought crashing back to earth in their opening World Cup qualifier last night after suffering a deserved 2-0 defeat to Switzerland.

Republic of Ireland Euro 2016 opponents Sweden and Italy began their build-up to this summer’s tournament with disappointing results on a busy night of international friendlies.

A new eurozone fund for troubled banks may face a one-month delay and not go live in January, a prospect that would be a major embarrassment for a critical element of banking union, its chair said in Dublin yesterday.