A UK promotions company co-owned by former Ireland and Manchester United player Denis Irwin has accumulated profits of almost £600,000 (€670,000) since it was set up in 2014, according to newly filed accounts.

At Ireland’s training camp in Portugal, Luca Connell is telling us how his unexpected call-up has disrupted his summer holiday plans. Not that he’s complaining, mind.

Phil Babb has paid Virgil van Dijk a high compliment by comparing him favourably to Paul McGrath.

Almost 25,000 tickets have been sold for tomorrow's benefit game in support of Sean Cox at the Aviva Stadium.

So that’s nearly Thursday wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Music will be from Damien Dempsey and we’ll have a performance from the stars of The King and I.

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

Ireland's all-time leading goal scorer will captain his country once more in a Sean Cox fundraiser.

Jason McAteer was sent off after a furious spat with former Liverpool teammate Michael Owen as the Star Sixes tournament in Glasgow was enlivened by controversy.

In his autobiography, A Life in Questions, the broadcaster Jeremy Paxman relates a memorable exchange between John Major and Boris Yeltsin, as described by the former British prime minister.

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.

Jason McAteer has blamed his long-time foe Roy Keane for Declan Rice's expected decision to declare for England.

Roy Keane is unlikely to be joining Richard Keys and Andy Gray as a pundit on beIn Sports in Qatar any time soon.

Former Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has revealed that the memory of guiding the country to the World Cup finals still burns as brightly as the fires that illuminated the night sky in Tehran following their triumph in Iran.

Niall Quinn believes there is a way back for Darron Gibson at Sunderland, just so long as the player does his talking on the pitch rather than in a bar.

For all the superlatives rightly thrown in the direction of Joe Schmidt’s team the past couple of days, one aspect of Soldier Field has probably still not been fully appreciated.

Diverse and exciting writing talent has been shortlisted across 14 categories for the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards.

A star-studded line-up.

Liverpool are heading in the right direction and have made one of the signings of the season in Sadio Mane but, with a need to strengthen defensively, Jurgen Klopp’s side are still a work in progress and not yet ready to challenge for a League title.

The Republic of Ireland travels to France this week with a squad of 23 players who will be looking to make history and take Ireland out of the group stage for the first time in the Euros.

Euro 2016 is almost upon us and Irish fans are getting very, very excited.

Jason McAteer thinks that the lure of a return to club football means there’s “a big possibility” of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane departing as the Ireland management team after next month’s European Championships.

The celebrated 1-0 win against Germany last year was widely regarded as the most significant Irish football result delivered in Dublin since victory, by the same margin, against the Netherlands in 2001, when Jason McAteer’s famous goal secured crucial points for Mick McCarthy’s team en route to the World Cup finals in Japan and Korea.

If the hairdryer has to be administered at half-time in the Aviva tonight, it’s tempting to assume it will come courtesy of Roy Keane.

That’s life, that’s what all the people say, you’re ridin’ high in April, shot down in May…

Backs to the wall — that’s the popular consensus on where stands the Irish football team as a depleted line-up prepares to face world champions Germany at the Aviva Stadium tonight.

Ronnie Whelan believes Liverpool must hit the ground running this season in their quest for silverware and a return to Champions League football.

His subtle but succinct skewering of John Delaney grabbed all the attention on this side of the Irish Sea, but closer to home, it was another of Stewart Regan’s observations that stood out from the rest. 

The pipes, the pipes are evidently calling Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling,

A 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death of student Karen Buckley, a Labour senator has published plans to make cyberbullying a criminal offence and Jason McAteer says Roy Keane persuaded Alex Ferguson not to axe him many times. These are some of the latest and most read news on irishexaminer.com this lunchtime.

Roy Keane’s one-time international teammate Jason McAteer believes the Corkman’s exit from Manchester United was down to a gradual breakdown of trust rather than any sudden fall-out with Alex Ferguson.

Andy Townsend might struggle to remember Ireland’s 3-3 draw away to Poland in 1991 – the last competitive meeting between the two countries – but it’s a game which is lodged firmly in your humble correspondent’s memory banks.

Award-winning Irish graphic artist Will Sliney is hoping to avoid a red card after producing a mural featuring his top 11 Republic of Ireland soccer legends.

“Jason was my hero, a player I modelled myself on; someone I admired.”

Since that 1-0 defeat of the Dutch 13 years ago, Ireland have played 32 competitive games at Lansdowne Road, Croke Park and at the Aviva.

It’s 20 years since Ray Houghton’s goal saw Ireland shock Italy at the World Cup

Former Liverpool captain Ronnie Whelan believes the current crop of Reds are finishing the season stronger than their rivals and that gives them the best chance of winning the title.