Punters and sports stars united in praise of the Bray boxer.

By the summer of 1990, All-Ireland football champions Cork had Kerry’s number. So much so that Rebel fans were yelling ‘lock the gates’ as they dismembered the Kingdom in the provincial decider in Cork. However a bigger challenge loomed for Billy Morgan, Larry Tompkins, & Co — Meath. In his new book on Cork’s historic double season, Adrian Russell reveals how Colm O’Neill turned from peripheral to pivotal figure on the road to GAA history.

Mick McCarthy recently admitted Troy Parrott is a ‘shoo-in’ for a call-up to the senior squad if he figures regularly for Spurs this season

So that’s Friday nearly 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.

It was just two or three years ago when it first hit me hard that I have to change how I live; that we all do, for the sake of this planet. We have to start taking care of it. That way it’ll be somewhere our kids and theirs can live normally in the future, as we do today.

No way is it enough to focus on recycling the plastic we produce. We have got to produce less plastic, writes Victoria White

At the half-way point in Euro 2020 qualifying, the good news for Ireland is that they sit atop the group table with a healthy haul of ten points from four games.

Ireland’s latest trip to Copenhagen marked your correspondent’s fifth visit to the engaging Danish capital which, a couple of thunderstorms aside, presented a much sunnier, summery face than I experienced on my first trip there.

Bus Éireann kindly stepped in to provide transport to bring Sanctuary runners from the Direct Provision centre in Kinsale Road in Cork to Patrick Street today for the city marathon.

Five Cork Airport Business Park office buildings, totalling 120,000 sq ft, including two let to Amazon, and which had been by a Norwegian billionaire for over €15 million five years ago, have been sold off-market to an Irish/UK joint venture for over €20m.

Virgil Van Dijk has dismissed talk of winning the Ballon d’Or and insists he is fully focused on attempting to shackle “out of this world” Lionel Messi in the Champions League.

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

What is that alien sensation you are experiencing? Could it be calm? Spring brings the one international break we almost look forward to.

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

Things didn’t finish up for Darran O’Sullivan as he would have liked, either with Kerry or when he last played against their opponents tonight, Mayo.

Such is the state of Niamh Rockett’s left knee that she doesn’t really know if there will be another game after this one.

The future for Irish space exploration is safe, considering the remarkable achievement of four secondary school students from Athlone, Co Westmeath.

Former Olympian Derval O’Rourke has said that people treated her like she had died when she retired from running.

Shortly after my wife and I took up a pair of seats about four rows from the back of the covered stand in Cusack Park last Sunday, I could hear a young fella behind me asking his father: Is that Tony Browne?

Niall Quinn believes the goals will definitely come in the green shirt for Sean Maguire and Scott Hogan despite both strikers firing blanks in last week’s friendly defeat in Turkey.

Michael Fennelly’s retirement last week, both inevitable and a bit unexpected, pushes further into shadow one of hurling’s most remarkable eras.

In Ireland’s time of need, Paul McGrath firmly believes Seán Maguire can arrest the worrying firepower deficit.

Comedians tend to worry a lot about the ‘too soon’ moment, that minefield of a border between the darkly funny and the wincingly crass.

Mark Kinsella feels history will repeat itself over the next 12 months when it comes to revamping Ireland’s international squad.

Ye Gods, it can’t be true but somehow it is. When Ireland take on Denmark in the World Cup play-off next month, it really will be 25 years (and a couple of weeks) since I was last in the Parken Stadium watching the two nations go head to head, writes Liam Mackey.

Tributes have been pouring in overnight for Kevin Doyle, who has been forced to retire at the age of 34.

When Martin O’Neill named three uncapped strikers in his latest squad at a press conference in Dublin on Tuesday, almost lost in the discussion about Ireland’s need to locate a cutting edge was the manager’s low key reference to Kevin Doyle “suffering a bit from concussion”.

It is the dream of every sports broadcaster to have their voices usher in one immortal moment. Jimmy Magee had a lifetime’s worth, writes Tommy Martin.

Latest: Tributes from all walks of Irish life have flooded in following the death of the RTE commentator, journalist and Memory Man, Jimmy Magee.

While Darren Randolph was earning plaudits for his role in helping Middlesbrough keep a clean sheet against Preston – including one fine save to deny ex-Cork City man Sean Maguire – his Ireland understudy Keiren Westwood was having a much less happy time of it in the Championship on Saturday.

If not always the football, then the results continue to flow in the World Cup qualifiers. writes Liam Mackey

Despite having made exceedingly heavy weather of salvaging a point against Austria, Ireland remain on course for the World Cup finals in Russia.

He was still a coach, still getting into a player’s head, determining who needed cajoling, who would be incentivised by reward, all to elicit a better account of themselves, writes Michael Clifford

The Late Late Show is going full Irish on Friday night for St Patrick's Day.

St Francis College Rochestown will contest the FAI Schools Tom Ticher National Cup Final after a penalty shootout victory over Marist College Athlone.

Conor Hourihane says he aims to “hit the ground running” after completing a £3m move to Aston Villa yesterday.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

He was famed as an England boss but any Irish players came under the wing of the late Graham Taylor during his long managerial career, with the legendary Paul McGrath leading the tributes to his former boss.

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.