The latest acting veteran who may have joined the cast of Game of Thrones is Richard E Grant, according to unconfirmed reports in the UK.

You are witness to an unprecedented experiment in sports journalism here this morning — if not quite a match report written before the match then something not too far off it.

With their closest rivals Cork City not playing Sligo Rovers until tomorrow, Dundalk will be looking to strike the psychological blow of extending their lead at the top of the SSE Airtricity League to nine points – at least for 24 hours – when they host Longford Town at Oriel Park this evening.

Stephen Kenny has admitted that the Dundalk dressing room was “devastated” after the scoreless draw with BATE Borisov which saw his side exit Europe on Wednesday night.

The second half of the season is where “the real action starts”.

Tennis, hurling, rugby and the small matter of a Champions League final - we hope you didn’t have big plans for the weekend because they will be hard to fit in around all the sport.

Dublin v Tyrone

Allianz Hurling League Division 1A

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has stressed his confidence that his players are ready for the challenge of facing Young Boys on the Swiss side’s artificial pitch.

Subscription channel Setanta Sports has trumpeted itself as "the big winners" from the distribution of Champions League and Europa League television rights in Ireland for the next three years.

TODAY 

League leaders Dundalk have suffered a major blow with the news striker David McMillan will miss the remainder of the title run-in with an ankle ligament injury incurred in the Lilywhites 2-0 win over UCD on Friday.

Ireland duo James McCarthy and Seamus Coleman will miss Everton’s Europa League trip to Russia to play FC Krasnodar tonight (5pm, live on Setanta Ireland, ITV4).

John Collins has no worries over race row Celtic player Aleksandar Tonev ahead of their opening Europa League clash with Salzburg in Austria tonight (6pm, live on Setanta Ireland).

Colm Herron owner of the Hillgrove Hotel with Norah Casey on the new series of ‘The Takeover’, beginning on RTÉ Two on Thursday.

A documentary on UFC star Conor McGregor and the second heat of MasterChef Ireland are among the homegrown shows over the next few days.

MasterChef Ireland and Hector both make welcome returns.

True Detective  debuts on Sky Atlantic,  while Operation Transformation reaches its conclusion for this year.

Quirke with Gabriel Byrne debuts on RTÉ One, while Moone Boy makes a welcome return to Sky 1.

Olympic Decathlon champion Ashton Eaton has been confirmed among an impressive field for the inaugural Athlone International Grand Prix to be held later this month.

Christmas highlights include Mrs Browns Boys and a documentary on Dermot Morgan.

Highlights include Joe Brolly's moving tale of donating his kidney and the return of Irish Pictorial Weekly.

Eircom has entered the television market offering 34 channels in direct competition with cable and satellite giants UPC and Sky.

Setanta is lining up a weekend Premier League highlights show, it has emerged.

This week's highlights include Cracking Crime, which revisits the murder of a prison officer from Kerry.

I was particularly disappointed to read that Horse Racing Ireland are in exclusive negotiations with SIS and At The Races regarding the awarding of the Irish racing media rights.

Setanta Sports are aiming to take a larger slice of the GAA’s media rights when they come up at the end of the year.

Hod and Rod. Two men made for centre stage inched back into the glare this week.

Highlights include Liz Bonnin on tigers and the final episode of Game of Thrones.

James McCarthy hailed the effort of his Republic of Ireland team-mates after Giovanni Trapattoni’s men played out a 1-1 draw with England last night.

Highlights include Colin Stafford Johnson's new series on the Shannon, and highly-rated new spy drama The Americans.

As well as the Eurovision, highlights include the return of The Good Wife to RTÉ

The best of what's on the box from April 13-19. Simon Cowell is back on Britain’s Got Talent.

SATURDAY

Cork City bid to stretch their unbeaten run in all competitions this season to seven when they take on Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds this evening, but manager Tommy Dunne will have to plan without key defender Dan Murray, ruled out because of work commitments.

MARCH 16-22

Andre Villas-Boas has no plans to rest his best players tonight, as Tottenham look to complete their demolition of Inter Milan without the services of Gareth Bale (6pm, live on Setanta Ireland and ITV4) at the San Siro.

SATURDAY

Former Cork hurling star Seán Óg Ó hAilpín has said he feels his retirement was down to Jimmy Barry-Murphy and his management focusing more on the future than 2013.

Chelsea interim boss Rafael Benitez is determined that last season’s Champions League winners take the Europa League seriously, beginning with the last-32 first leg at Sparta Prague tonight (kick-off 6pm, live on ESPN and Setanta Ireland).

Celebrity Bainisteoir — The Rivals

Athletes are, by their nature, a selfish breed.

Today, it all starts again.

Paralympics Ireland is set to step out of the shadow of its Olympic counterpart this summer with the announcement that the Games are to be screened live in this country for the first time.