Nicolo Barella and Moise Kean scored in either half as Italy launched their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with a 2-0 win against Finland in Udine.

It’s the second coming of Mick McCarthy and upon this Rock he will build his church.

In 2013, 80 years after the national side was created, The Gibraltarian FA was finally accepted as a full Uefa member.

If nothing else, victory in Gibraltar would help eradicate the memory of another tumultuous week for Irish football.

The parallels are striking. For Liechtenstein in Vaduz almost 23 years ago read Gibraltar in the Victoria Stadium on Saturday.

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.

It didn’t take the hurlers of Dublin, Tipperary, Clare and Galway long to discover Boston’s list of priorities last Friday when they landed for the Fenway Classic Super 11s.

Gylfi Sigurdsson helped Iceland seal qualification for their first ever World Cup finals by scoring in an emotional 2-0 victory over Kosovo.

Iceland are on the brink of reaching their first ever World Cup after recording a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Group I rivals Turkey in Istanbul.

Alvaro Morata and substitute Iago Aspas each scored twice as Spain continued to cruise towards the World Cup finals with an 8-0 win over Group G whipping boys Liechtenstein in Vaduz.

David Villa is not only loving life with Patrick Vieira's New York City FC but his outstanding Major League Soccer form has earned a dream Spain recall at the age of 35.

Alvaro Morata pounced with a late equaliser to earn Spain a 2-2 draw in their international friendly against Colombia at Estadio de La Condomina in Murcia.

British Prime Minister Theresa May could have accidentally triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which allows member states to leave the EU, according to a legal challenge due to begin in the Irish High Court this month.

Worries for Roy Keane, Rashford makes case, Cesc freeze - our writers chew on the weekend's talking points.

Danskjavlar is an affectionate Swedish expression that can best be translated as ‘Bloody Danes’. It was used quite a lot after last month’s qualifying draw pitted Sweden against Denmark in the Euro 2016 play-off, with the first leg tonight in Stockholm.

Wayne Rooney smashed Bobby Charlton’s record and became England’s greatest ever goalscorer with a fine penalty in the 2-0 win over Switzerland at Wembley last night.

If this stellar weekend for Irish sport was Live Aid, then Gibraltar versus Ireland would be Status Quo — bottom of the bill, and everyone knows what to expect.

Any of you mathematicians out there fancy decoding this little baby? (Deep breath): 0000011003210002002054031002651206140004.

Where the World Cup draw giveth, the World Cup schedule taketh away.

Republic of Ireland 7 Gibraltar 0

On the face of it, it didn’t seem that much of an occasion, just a warm-up for the real action. Sure, it may have been Gibraltar’s ever international first match as a recognised nation, but the November 2013 friendly in the Algarve was against an experimental Slovakia side, and ended 0-0. Bigger days surely lay ahead.

While it would clearly be ridiculous to make any kind of judgement on Martin O’Neill’s management after one game, tomorrow’s fixture in Tbilisi does offer a curious kind of acid test — and an immediate point of comparison.

That’s that, then. The last box finally ticked after eight largely forgettable friendlies that yawned across the course of 10 interminable months, in four different countries and against opposition from three continents.

Russia secured their place at next summer’s World Cup finals by the narrowest of margins after conceding a last-minute equaliser in their qualifier against Azerbaijan.

There are certain sayings that should be banned from the language.

Robin van Persie struck an injury-time penalty as The Netherlands maintained their unbeaten record in World Cup qualifying with a last-gasp draw in Estonia tonight.

In a game where the only element that was ever really going to be remembered was the numbers, Robbie Keane duly obliged.

EU efforts to tackle tax evasion by individuals and corporations have gained pace with Taoiseach Enda Kenny acknowledging that new digital industry may need a different kind of tax structure — something that applies to companies like Google and Facebook.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan says that Ireland must defend its corporate tax rate to defend jobs.

The opportunity for people to evade paying billions of euro in tax will be considerably reduced after a breakthrough by Finance Minister Michael Noonan that will see agreements brokered with five non-EU tax havens.

Two early goals helped the Czech Republic heap more problems on struggling Turkey with a 2-0 friendly win at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium tonight.

Enda’s German gong overshadowed

A question mark hung over Craig Levein’s future as Scotland manager after last night’s 2-0 defeat to Belgium all but extinguished their hopes of resurrecting their World Cup qualifying Group A campaign.

Marco Reus and Toni Kroos both helped themselves to two goals apiece as Germany made an emphatic statement of intent in World Cup Qualifying Group C with a 6-1 rout of Ireland in Dublin.

Ireland boss would do well to follow the example of Germany’s long-time coach, argues Miguel Delaney

Ryan Shawcross returned to the England fold after a two-year absence today with Gary Neville claiming his old Manchester United team-mate is the best possible example for youngsters to follow.

Kazakhstan 1 Republic of Ireland 2

Portugal manager Paulo Bento will be forced to field a weakened backline in tomorrow’s friendly against Panama at the Estádio Algarve after central defenders Pepe and Bruno Alves pulled out through injury.

It was a night when the worst fears of Ireland supporters came to pass.

Applause rang out across the stadium when, just after the hour-mark of Czech Republic’s Euro 2012 qualifying defeat to Spain last October, coach Michal Bilek decided to make a change.