After missing two earlier chances, Zack Elbouzedi was relieved to be Ireland’s matchwinner in Armenia to keep their Euro U21 qualification journey on track.

Spurs teenager Troy Parrott and Celtic's Lee O'Connor both make the move up from Stephen Kenny's U21 squad

Stephen Kenny has said that he is delighted for Troy Parrott that the 17-year-old Spurs player has received his first senior Ireland call-up even though it means the U21 manager will be without his star striker for next Thursday’s Euro 2021 qualifier away to Armenia.

Seamus Coleman will miss out as he serves a two-game suspension but will be invited to join up with the squad in Dublin for the final Euro 2020 qualifier.

Stephen Kenny insists his high-flying Ireland U21s won’t settle for a draw from tomorrow’s Euro qualification test against Italy.

“I’m feeling very well. Obviously I had a stay (in hospital) in Sweden and there is probably not a better health system you could have than in Sweden so it wasn’t the worse place to be not well in.

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

As Mick McCarthy heaped more praise on Stephen Kenny’s Ireland U21s, striker Adam Idah is adamant the squad are comfortable with the growing hype surrounding them.

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.

Stephen Kenny cited a gruelling schedule for Ireland U21s not pushing Brazil harder in yesterday’s Toulon Tournament semi-final.

Stephen Kenny saluted his Ireland U21 warriors for securing a draw against Mexico which puts them on the brink of reaching the Toulon Tournament semi-finals.

Stephen Kenny hailed his Ireland U21 side’s quickfire start in yesterday’s demolition of China.

It will be the first time since 2002 that Ireland have competed in the tournament.

The star of Stephen Kenny’s Ireland U21 soccer team, Connor Ronan, has assured Ireland fans that he has no intention of emulating Declan Rice by defecting to his homeland, England.

Jayson Molumby’s U21 Republic of Ireland debut is a triumph of skill and will.

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

Josh Cullen is a London-born midfielder and West Ham United employee and he has just been called up to the senior Ireland senior set-up for the first time as a late addition to Mick McCarthy’s squad.

The only doubt Stephen Kenny has about Troy Parrott’s readiness for U21 action relates to the player’s current injury problems.

Here's your lunchtime bulletin.

It’s easy to believe the FA Cup has lost a bit of its shine after Arsene Wenger lifted the famous trophy three times in four years but still lost his job because it was the ‘only’ thing he won; but that doesn’t mean there aren’t clubs going into this year’s third round desperate to reach Wembley.

West Ham say they will be able to increase the capacity of the London Stadium to 66,000 after resolving a legal row with its landlord.

Twenty years after their on-field tension rivalry ended, Ian Wright insisted his summer squabble with Roy Keane on the pundits’ couch at the World Cup hasn’t dimmed his respect for the Corkman.

James McClean will welcome Declan Rice back into the Republic of Ireland squad with open arms should the West Ham United player opt against a switch of allegiance to England and stick with the Boys in Green.

The prospects of Declan Rice reaffirming his allegiance to Ireland are rapidly receding after bookmakers last night stopped taking bets on the West Ham United mainstay defecting to England.

Harry Arter has made himself unavailable for Ireland’s Nations League opener against Wales on Thursday, as the fallout from his disagreement with Roy Keane intensifies.

Arsenal can compete for the Europa League title but the players must first cope with the long-distance travel during their group-stage matches, warned manager Unai Emery yesterday.

Republic of Ireland 4 Northern Ireland 0

Yet again the talk surrounding England as they approach a major tournament is marooned somewhere between hope and hype but Damien Duff has questioned whether Gareth Southgate’s players have the commitment required to make a mark at the World Cup.

Manuel Pellegrini has targeted “four or five” signings to launch a blueprint of attacking football at West Ham.

West Ham are back on the hunt for a “high-calibre” manager after opting not to extend the contract of David Moyes.

Moyes reached the end of his short-term contract with the club at the end of the season.

West Ham 1 Manchester City 4: With a century of goals and a host of records set to tumble before the curtain falls on their title-winning campaign, Manchester City’s season continues to set new standards, which manager Pep Guardiola believes will mark them out as the best team in Premier League history.

The ashes of one of the country’s greatest sportsmen are to be scattered on a cricket pitch close to where he was born.

Shane Duffy was named the FAI Senior Player of the Year for 2017 last night but the big Brighton defender was unable to collect his award in person as the weather took its toll on the annual televised ceremony in RTÉ, with the programme having to be shortened from a scheduled running time of 90 minutes to one hour.

"We take full responsibility for the changes that need to be made to the stadium."

Our man inside the game wonders where the stewards were at the London Stadium.

There was a security scare at Crufts dog show as a man appeared to run on to the arena as the winner was being announced on live television.

In calling up Declan Rice to his squad for this month’s training camp and friendly in Turkey, Martin O’Neill has stressed that the highly-rated young West Ham defender, who is still eligible to play senior football for both Ireland and England, will not come under any pressure to decide his international future.

West Ham have suspended their director of player recruitment Tony Henry while they investigate claims he told agents the club do not want to sign any more African players.

West Ham director of player recruitment Tony Henry has been suspended "pending a full and thorough investigation" over claims he said the club would not sign any more African players.

West Ham are expected to issue a stadium ban to one of their supporters if it is determined comments were made about the death of the baby son of West Brom midfielder Jake Livermore.

John Fallon looks back on Irish soccer’s 2017