As a deluge of bets on Martin O’Neill over the last 24 hours has seen him re-installed as the clear favourite for the job of Ireland manager, and amid mounting speculation that an appointment of the successor to Giovanni Trapattoni is imminent, Noel King has been tasked with selecting an extended provisional panel of players for Ireland’s forthcoming friendlies against Latvia and Poland.

Ipswich Town joint-managing director Ian Milne says he doesn’t expect Mick McCarthy to leave the Championship club for the vacant Ireland manager’s job.

A teenage girl has been shot dead and her sister seriously injured in a gun attack in a small village in the North.