Having left his seat in Tallaght just before the winning strike, the Ireland manager says he had already seen enough of the midfielder’s performance to give him “plenty to think about” as he ponders his squad for the Euro 2020 play-off against Slovakia.

Cork City chairman Declan Carey says that he sees Turners Cross remaining the club’s home well into the future, after it was confirmed that the potential sale of the ground to the company which owns Preston North End will be on the agenda when the Munster Football Association meets next month.

James McClean is hoping that intensive rehab work he is undertaking in Dubai will help speed up his recovery from a knee injury in time to make him available for Ireland’s Euro 2020 play-off game against Slovakia on March 26.

While it had been reported that a takeover would effectively be Preston subsuming City, who would become a feeder club, members were told that it is an offer from Trevor Hemmings in a personal capacity.

Cork City boss Neale Fenn insists his focus is solely on onfield matters with the manager revealing that he is not involved in the talks about Preston North End's role in the club.

Cork City could be in a line for a welcome windfall if negotiations with Preston North End about a partnership reach a successful conclusion.

Alan Browne was left “gutted” after the Republic of Ireland’s hopes of clinching automatic qualification for the Euro 2020 finals slipped away in agonising style.

“Will it be a tale of goalkeepers?” George Hamilton intones portentously as the camera zooms in on Kasper Schmeichel. “Will it be a tale of goalscorers?”

Larry Ryan picks out five things we probably knew already from Ireland's draw with Denmark...

Paul Dowling assesses the performances of Ireland's players in the 1-1 draw with Denmark.

Matt Doherty’s late header was not enough to send the Republic of Ireland to the Euro 2020 finals as they came up just short in a tense encounter with old foes Denmark.

Browne's inclusion in the starting team for last Thursday's friendly against New Zealand appeared to rule him out of the running.

Well, yes, and here we go again… But before we get into ‘Dane-ja vu’ or even ‘Oh, Dane-ger here’ territory, a word of two about the headlines that got away on account of Troy Parrott being so inconsiderate towards us hacks as to refrain from crowning his senior debut, at the ridiculously tender age of 17, with the goal or two or even three which we were all demanding.

'He has not been that talkative (in camp this week) but he stood up and sung last night.'

Who was your man-of-the-match?

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

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.

There was no quick getaway from their Swiss mission for the Republic of Ireland players.

Prior to Geneva, when did Ireland last start with 3-5-2?

Forty-five years after making my Ireland debut, 55 years after watching my country play for the first time, I’m struggling to think of a week when we produced back-to-back performances as poor as these.

Player ratings with Paul Dowling

And so it's Daneja vu all over again.

Ger McCarthy on the lessons learned from Ireland's 2-0 loss to Switzerland at the Stade de Genève.

Ireland are top of the group with two games to play - starting with a tough tie in Switzerland on Tuesday.

The Republic of Ireland have drawn 0-0 against Georgia in their Euro 2020 qualifier in Tbilisi.

The uninvited viewers arrived over the hill wearing school bags and uniforms.

“It does help that we’re both from Cork and we can understand each other.”

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

A look at the Republic of Ireland's player performances against Bulgaria tonight.

In a spirit of, as he put it,“nothing ventured, nothing gained”, Mick McCarthy has made the left-field decision to play Conor Hourihane atleft-back against Bulgaria at the Aviva Stadium tonight.

Mick McCarthy's men face Switzerland in a "huge" Euro2020 qualifier on September 5 before a friendly with Bulgaria five days later.

Gardaí in Cork are investigating separate acts of random vandalism - one in which all 88 greenway spotlights were ‘irreparably’ damaged in a drill attack and the other which caused some €2,000 damage to dugouts at a soccer club which has produced a Champions League-winning goalkeeper.

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

It’s Thursday afternoon when I reach him on the phone, and Sean Maguire, just “chilling out” on a last day of rest before starting to climb the Championship mountain with Preston North End again, is reflecting on how Deepdale is no longer such a deep shade of green.

The Preston North End squad have enjoyed a game of hurling as their pre-season camp continues in Cork.

Preston North End took a deserved victory at Turner’s Cross last night, but an outstanding performance from Cork City goalkeeper Tadhg Ryan ensured the Championship side had to earn the win.

If there can be such a thing as an upside for Mick McCarthy in seeing four players succumb to friendly fire on the training pitch — Shane Long having now followed Alan Browne, Mark Travers and Luca Connell out of the squad since preparations for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Denmark and Gibraltar began on the Algarve — it’s that none would have been likely to start in Copenhagen on Friday night.

Luca Connell has told Mick McCarthy that he is committed to playing for Ireland and the manager has further revealed that but for a thigh injury ruling him out, the Liverpool-born Bolton Wanderers midfielder would have been in with a real chance of at least a cameo in the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifier against Gibraltar.

The highly-rated young Bolton Wanderers midfielder had been a surprise call-up and, initially, was expected only to be involved in the training camp in Portugal.

Announced this afternoon, the game will take place on Monday, July 8 with a 7pm kick-off.

So there was Mark Travers talking to us at Ireland base camp on the Algarve on Tuesday, buzzing with enthusiasm at his second international call-up and all teed-up not only to show off his golfing prowess to the rest of the squad but, more importantly, confirm on the training pitch that he would be ready to step into the breach, should anything befall Darren Randolph, for Ireland’s upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers.

The call-up will be a boost for Connell after his club, Bolton Wanderers, went into administration following their relegation from the Championship.

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.