Blackburn Rovers defenders Darragh Lenihan and Greg Cunningham have been called up for the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2020 qualifiers this month.

Debut U21 call-ups for Troy Parrott, Michael Obafemi and Johnathan Afolabi have reinforced the sense of a rich vein of attacking talent bubbling up in Irish football, something further underlined in Stephen Kenny’s latest squad announcement by a decision to make a distinction on paper between ‘central midfielders’ and ‘attacking midfielder

Bournemouth midfielder Gavin Kilkenny and Danny McNamara, who is currently on loan at Newport County also recieved their first call-ups.

Mick McCarthy has named his Ireland squad for the forthcoming European Championship qualifier against Switzerland and the friendly with Bulgaria.

LATEST: Zlatan Ibrahimovic has accepted his Football Association charge for violent conduct and will miss Manchester United's next three domestic games.

Sergio Aguero offered a reminder of his value to Manchester City by providing the winning goal as they moved up to second in the Premier League with a 2-0 win at Bournemouth.

A security company said to have accidentally left a dummy bomb at Old Trafford that triggered an evacuation is facing calls for a full inquiry.

Greater Manchester Police last night said a fake bomb detonated at Old Trafford was a “training device” accidentally left behind by a company. 

Premier League clubs paid out nearly £130 million (€185 million) to agents last year — a £15m (€21m) increase on the year before.

With Gibraltar v Ireland on September 4 regarded by many – if not Martin O’Neill – as a foregone conclusion, there will almost be as much interest from Irish supporters in the Georgia v Scotland and Germany v Poland games which also take place in European Championship Group D on the same day.

Christian Benteke’s controversial winner for Liverpool against Bournemouth on Monday should not have stood, the Premier League has acknowledged.

Every week, Steve Neville will be looking at the positives in the world in sport. This week he looks at AFC Bournemouth and how they went from near financial ruin to a chance of playing in the Premier League.

Wigan 1 AFC Bournemouth 1

SIX soccer players arrested by police investigating an alleged sex attack on a woman have been released on bail.

UNTIL events in Dublin last Friday tempered my misty-eyed desire for 90 minutes of the Airtricity League, this was supposed to be a column about missing out on the joys of football in May.

Leeds United face an away tie against Oldham Athletic in the first round of the FA Cup.