An exquisite free-kick from Conor Hourihane rescued a point for Aston Villa in Saturday’s Championship clash at Blackburn.

Ireland 3 Iceland 1: Derry City midfielder Rory Hale took just 14 seconds to mark his international U21 debut last night with a goal by firing Ireland on the way to victory against Iceland.

Irish players also scored for QPR and Sheffield United.

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

Republic of Ireland's U21s continued their unbeaten run in the European Championship qualifiers with an impressive 4-0 win over Israel today.

Galway native Ryan Manning has his sights set on guiding Ireland to the U21 Euro finals and earning senior promotion.

If Martin O’Neill was seeking encouragement about the talent pool for the next campaign, the Ireland manager should have received some assurance from the display of the next generation.

Ireland U21 0 Norway U21 0

Ireland U21 boss Noel King has strenuously denied pursuing Northern Ireland-born players for his squad following allegations made by Michael O’Neill.

A coroner has called for a ban on the sale of old-style chip pans and urged people to dump them, after an inquest heard how two men died in a house fire caused by an unattended chip pan.

Matt Ritchie fired a second-half double as Newcastle climbed back to the top of the Sky Bet Championship with a 4-0 home win against Rotherham.

A year that featured the glorious high of scoring Ireland’s winner against Italy in Lille ended in frustrating fashion for Robbie Brady as the Dubliner was sent off in Norwich City’s 0-0 Championship draw at Brentford on Saturday.

Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne 1-11 De La Salle, Macroom 1-3: Holders Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne are still alive in this season’s Corn Ui Mhuiri, after proving far too strong for De La Salle, Macroom at Lewis Road, Killarney, despite playing almost the entire second half with 14 players.

Pobalscoil Sliabh Luachra, Rathmore 4-12 Pobalscoil Chorcha Dhuibhne 2-9: Sliabh Luachra Rathmore caused a major upset in the opening round of this season’s Munster Colleges, Corn Ui Mhuiri Group C, with a comprehensive win over the Corn Uí Mhuirí winners of the last four years, Corca Dhuibhne.

The Republic of Ireland U19 side suffered a heart-breaking loss to hosts Germany in their UEFA U19 Championships Elite Qualifying Round encounter in Sandhausen today.

Ireland U19s 6 Azerbaijan U19s 0

Now that the dust has settled on the January winter transfer window, a number of clubs hoping to have made the signings that will make the difference for them between now and May.

Deadline Day Moves in Bold

“It feels like a dream come true – it’s all very surreal at the moment.”

Galway youngster Ryan Manning is set to join Premier League side QPR this week on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

An 18-year-old Galway FC midfielder is set to make a move to the Premier League, according to newspaper reports today.

Airtricity League Promotion/relegation play-off

First Division play-off: Galway FC 2 Shelbourne 0

Goals from Patrick Hoban and Kurtis Byrne secured a second place finish in the Airtricity League Premier Division for Dundalk as they beat Bray Wanderers 2-0 at the Carlisle Grounds in the final series of matches of the 2013 season.