These are the standout quotes from the world of punditry in 2019...

It was Mick McCarthy who told Alan Judge that without bad luck he would have no luck at all.

Daniel Storey looks at what we learned in the Premier League this weekend.

The 39-year-old, who scored nine times in 80 appearances for his country and played at Euro 2016, was a free agent after leaving Rangers at the end of last season.

Roy Keane has spoken of his desire to have another crack at management and launched a stinging attack on Jonathan Walters for his behaviour towards the end of his time involved with Ireland.

Garry Doyle halflength cut Saipan: The year was dominated by that single word. Chances are no-one in Irish football had ever heard of the place before but by the time 2002 was out, it was as infamous as the other distant battlefields young Irishmen had fought in — Ypres, Gallipoli, and the Somme.

Baby steps but significant ones. That was Mick McCarthy’s assessment after witnessing James McCarthy’s first appearance in a Crystal Palace shirt.

The squad for the Euro 2020 qualifier against Switzerland will be announced on Friday.

Tipperary's Shane Breen has today made history at the Dublin Horse Show in the RDS, after he claimed victory in the €350,000 Longines Grand Prix of Ireland.

As Fulham found out last season, spending is no guarantee of survival in the Premier League.

Tottenham appear to have done good business this summer as Mauricio Pochettino completed the signings of Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon to go along with Tanguy Ndombele, prompting comparisons with three of the most dramatic transfer days in the club’s history — but they have not all ended well.

Jon Walters has described the row with Roy Keane that led to the striker’s departure from Ipswich.

Wolves have never hidden their ambitions. At a business breakfast event in the city in September 2018, then-managing director Laurie Dalrymple spoke of his pride at Wolves’s progress over the previous two years.

Ireland have been drawn fourth to jump in tomorrow's Longines FEI Nations Cup of Ireland for the Aga Khan Trophy at the 2019 Stena Line Dublin Horse Show.

Last Friday, the Ukrainian show jumping team contested a Tokyo 2020 qualifier in Budapest and amassed a total of 41 faults.

Manchester United fans were involved in more football-related arrests where racism was an aggravating factor or a feature than any other club in England in the four seasons up to 2017-18, data from the UK Home Office shows.

They called it the ‘Irish Football Stakeholder Forum’ but really last Friday’s gathering at the Mansion House was a cry for help.

Wembley no longer holds any mystery for Conor Hourihane. There is no room for romance in this story.

John Egan says it was only meant as “a bit of craic” and that it took him a mere 20 minutes to compose the words – and then only in his head, not on paper – so probably no-one was more surprised than Sheffield United’s Irish defender to see his celebratory ode to the club’s promotion to the Premier League go viral.

Alex Goode feels he is the victim of a witch hunt at Saracens as the club’s all-for-one, one-for-all attitude goes out of the window when it comes to the squad’s fantasy football league.

John Egan, Enda Stevens, David McGoldrick, and possibly Scott Hogan will be plying their trade in the Premier League next season after Sheffield United secured promotion to the Premier League this weekend.

John Egan, Enda Stevens, David McGoldrick, and possibly Scott Hogan will be plying their trade in the Premier League next season after Sheffield United secured promotion to the Premier League this weekend.

The battle for promotion from the Championship reaches a crescendo this weekend with at least eight teams still dreaming of making it into the Premier League and two able to seal it right now. But how well prepared are any of the sides for what could lie ahead?

Cian O’Connor takes his relatively recent acquisition Irenice Horta to this week’s four-star Horses and Dreams fixture at Hagen in Germany.

Easter Sunday, upstairs in Cashman’s Bar, Academy Street, Cork. Liverpool are one up against Cardiff and on their way back to the top of the Premier League.

Preston boss Alex Neil saluted the quality of forwards Callum Robinson and Lukas Nmecha after they tore already-relegated Ipswich apart in a 4-0 hammering at Deepdale.

Bolton have announced their home game against Ipswich tomorrow is in doubt because of a "critical" IT failure.

Spring is in the air. The cold hand of the previous year’s winter, which resulted in heavy snow and fixture cancellations as late as March was conspicuous by its absence but as April begins no one is taking the warm weather for granted just yet.

Ireland might be top of Group D but Mick McCarthy is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

Ipswich Town wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of salvation right now.

Potential Ireland recruit Patrick Bamford continued his recent rich vein of form on Saturday, netting an early winner as promoting-chasing Leeds won 1-0 at Bristol City.

If Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford is to find his way to the net for Ireland then, first of all, it would be helpful if he could find his way to a phone.

McCarthy saw both current and potential Ireland internationals notch goals on his scouting trip on Saturday.

Newport County’s remarkable FA Cup odyssey may have ended on Saturday but a 4-1 defeat didn’t stop Irish striker Pádraig Amond from leaving the pitch with a pep in his step.

O'Neill was a hugely animated figure and was lectured by referee Jeremy Simpson after straying from his technical area and down the side of the pitch once too often.

Holders Chelsea are safely through to the fourth round of the FA Cup but Premier League Cardiff were victims of a giant-killing act by Gillingham.

Supple had earned a call-up to the Ireland squad earlier this year.

He becomes the first man to manage both clubs.

The show jumping team season comes to its conclusion this weekend when fifteen countries do battle in the annual FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona.

Republic of Ireland striker Jonathan Walters will miss next month’s Nations League clashes with Denmark and Wales as he faces up to six months on the sidelines.

The opening ceremony for the World Equestrian Games (WEG) took place last night in Tryon, North Carolina and the first of thirteen days of action gets underway today. Endurance, Reining and Dressage are the disciplines kicking things off and Ireland is represented in all three.

A great power was given to Roy Keane. A power that can be dispensed in a look. By just making the face.

Walters played the full 90 minutes in last night's 4-1 defeat to Wales.

Conor Hourihane is long used to the constant comparisons to Roy Keane and he has no hesitation in sharing his fellow Corkman’s view that he had to break the Dublin monopoly to find his way up the Irish ladder.