Conor Hourihane, Greg Cunningham, and Enda Stevens were teammates in the same Ireland U21 side when James Collins hit a hat-trick on his debut against Liechtenstein.

They were known as the superb six, a cohort ready-made to complement Ireland’s golden generation of Robbie Keane and Damien Duff, but the tribulations of those bright young things should temper the hype attaching to the latest sextet.

As the majority of the Irish squad for next month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers begin work at their training camp in Portugal today, Mick McCarthy says he has no fears that the 17-day-long run-up to the game against Denmark on June 7 will see any of his players fall victim to cabin fever.

His 30 Ireland caps already a distant memory, Simon Cox takes a break from Southend United's relegation scrap, talking to David Sneyd as he recalls what feels like someone else's life.

Dear John,

Jon Walters has announced his retirement this afternoon.

Belgium’s Marouane Fellaini says he will soon reveal where he will be playing his football next season amid speculation his five-year stay at Manchester United could be drawing to a close.

A couple of months after Martin O’Neill took a sabbatical from football management to help look after his then ill wife Geraldine, this writer interviewed someone who had played minor inter-county Gaelic football with one of O’Neill’s great foot soldiers at Parkhead, Neil Lennon.

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

A book about the shirts worn by Irish football internationals over the years is to get a second print run, owing to the huge demand for the illustrated tome.

He’s taken a lead role in developing a cultural shift for Irish football but Damien Duff won’t complain should Martin O’Neill’s old-fashioned approach propel the country to a first World Cup since 2002.

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?

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique says he is ready to stand down from Spain duty if he is deemed a "problem" by national team coach Julen Lopetegui or the Spanish Football Federation as a result of his support for Catalan independence.

It is the dream of every sports broadcaster to have their voices usher in one immortal moment. Jimmy Magee had a lifetime’s worth, writes Tommy Martin.

The bookmaker admits it was quite a coup, writes Conall Ó Fátharta.

Cork City’s European tour takes a turn with a difference over the next two weeks as the club heads for Cyprus’s very own little enclave of Spain.

For those who do get to live the dream, how much harder then must it be to have to let it go and wake up to grim reality, asks Liam Mackey.

In the media room at the Aviva Stadium yesterday, former international Keith Andrews found himself sitting just a short pass away from a painful memory: a display cabinet containing Xavi’s Number 8 jersey as well as the match ball from that long night in Gdansk when Spain put four past Ireland at Euro 2012.

Sean St Ledger might be assured of a permanent place in the records as one of only five Irish players to score at the European Championship finals — even if his header in the 3-1 defeat to Croatia was, in the context of an otherwise miserable Euro 2012 for Ireland, the very definition of a consolation goal.

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

Nobody in the ilk of Damien Duff has graced the Ireland squad since the magician retired after Euro 2012, but Daryl Horgan hopes the similarities in appearance noticed by his new teammates yesterday can in some way be replicated in a football sense.

Ireland boss Martin O’Neill hailed Shay Given as one of Ireland’s greatest goalkeepers after the Stoke City star last night confirmed his exit from the international arena.

Séamus Mac Géidigh was broadcaster and manager of RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s northwest service in Donegal

There was a time when Portugal were considered the Brazil of Europe, for the flair with which they played football more than the commonality of language.

We may not win the Euros, but we’re still leaving France with a medal.

Manager Joachim Low maintains Germany should have no ‘Italy complex’ as they prepare for Saturday’s Euro 2016 quarter-final in Bordeaux.

Des O’Driscoll shares what’s happening in the arts scene this week

Euro 2016's round of 16 gets under way on Saturday after the completion of the group stages.

Ireland 0 Belgium 3: When Ireland’s Euro 2016 isn’t being very different to Ireland’s Euro 2012, it’s being, well, much too alarmingly like it.

Just before half-time in Southampton’s home home with Arsenal last December, Sadio Mane clipped a lovely pass in behind Per Mertesacker to set up a chase for Shane Long. There was only going to be one winner – Long terrorised the Germany defender with his pace all day and had already had a goal harshly disallowed, but his attempted dink over Petr Cech had too much on it and sailed over the crossbar for a wasted opportunity.

Armed guards with stern faces have been an unpalatable but staple part of the diet at major tournaments ever since the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games and talk of security and terrorism is especially rife at these European Championships.

20 sportspeople, reporters and fans look forward to Euro 2016 and reveal their own predictions for Europe's festival of soccer.

Garda security chiefs have left “nothing to chance” in their preparations for expected trips by both President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny to France for Ireland’s Euro 2016 matches.

Some people think the real battle at Euro 2016 is for the Henri Delaunay trophy? They are wrong.

What do Ireland need to improve most?

Get beyond the feelgood factor as Euro 2016 looms and there is real cause for concern for the Republic of Ireland when attention turns to a tough-looking World Cup qualifying campaign, writes Brendan O’Brien