Mick Cooke last night became the third permanent manager already this season of crisis club Bray Wanderers.

Not for the first time this season, confusion surrounded Bray Wanderers last night with manager Trevor Croly understood to have quit ahead of this evening’s Airtricity League fixture in Limerick (6.30pm).

With a Uefa Europa League draw to look forward to during it, Cork City players and staff will hope to enjoy the upcoming summer break.

Second from top take on the table-proppers in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division this evening as Cork City and Limerick meet in a Munster derby at Jackman Park (6.30pm).

Trevor Croly, the newly appointed manager of Bray Wanderers, insists the job is not a poisoned chalice but, rather, a “fantastic challenge”, despite the club’s currently embattled status on and off the pitch.

St Patrick’s Athletic 0 Shamrock Rovers 0: The spoils were shared between St Patrick’s Athletic and Shamrock Rovers at Richmond Park last night.

Cork-based couple Nora and Katriona go for a casino-themed event on Don’t Tell The Bride, on RTÉ2 on Thursday.

The recent return of Damien Richardson (Rico) and Pat Fenlon to the league, with Drogheda and Shamrock Rovers respectively, augurs well for the future competitiveness and health of the League of Ireland.

Shamrock Rovers have wasted no time in naming Pat Fenlon as their new manager.

Shamrock Rovers have chosen Pat Fenlon as their new coach.

Pat Fenlon has emerged as the favourite to succeed Trevor Croly as Shamrock Rovers’ manager following his departure by "mutual agreement’ on Saturday after the 4-1 defeat at Limerick the night before.

Shamrock Rovers 2 St Pat’s Athletic 1

In accepting the SSE Airtricity/SWAI player of the month award for May yesterday, Daryl Horgan now wants to crown Dundalk’s season with the title.

Cork City 3 Shamrock Rovers 0

SSE AIRTRICITY PREMIER DIVISION:

Signing for Shamrock Rovers is a homecoming in more ways than one for Stephen McPhail, representing not just a return to the country of his birth after 19 years in English football but also to the team he supported in his youth.

Milo Corcoran, chairman of the Setanta Sports Cup organising committee, is adamant the cross-border competition has a future after its 11th hour reprieve.

FAI boss John Delaney has ruled out any chance of Noel King becoming the next full-time manager of Ireland and said he hopes to have the appointment of a successor to Giovanni Trapattoni “done and dusted well before Christmas”.

A first half goal from midfielder Stephen Maher gave St. Patrick's Athletic a 1-0 win over Shelbourne to keep Liam Buckley's side a point clear at the top of the Premier Division table in a dramatic night of Airtricity League action.

Shamrock Rovers 3 Sligo Rovers 2

Dundalk, the surprise team of the season, can move into second place in the Airtricity Premier Division, just a point behind leaders St Pat’s, when they travel to take on Cork City at Turner’s Cross tonight (kick-off 8.05 pm).

Cork City 1 Shamrock Rovers 2

Domestic football has claimed its first managerial casualty of the season with the departure of Alan Mathews from Shelbourne.

The new all-Ireland champions, Shamrock Rovers, face St Patrick’s Athletic in a big Dublin derby tonight.

Shamrock Rovers 7 Drogheda United 1

UCD 2 Shamrock Rovers 0

Cork City 2 Shamrock Rovers 2 (Shamrock Rovers win 3-3 on away goals)

Still holding maximum points in the league, but smarting from defeat by Drogheda United in the Setanta Cup, champions Sligo Rovers travel to Richmond Park to take on third-placed St Patrick’s Athletic in the big game of the night in the Airtricity Premier Division (kick-off 7:05pm, live on RTE 2).

Shamrock Rovers 1 Cork City 1

AIRTRICITY LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION

With champions and early pacesetters Sligo Rovers not in action until tomorrow, when the Bit O’Red host Cork City at the Showgrounds, there is an onus on second-placed Derry City to make up some ground at Dundalk this evening.

After suffering narrow back-to-back defeats by Sligo Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic, Limerick are hoping for an improved return at Thomond Park this evening, when they host a Shamrock Rovers side desperate for a win.

Cork City travel to Tallaght this evening to face Shamrock Rovers in the Airtricity League with both sides anxious to prevail, albeit for slightly different reasons.

While the majority of leagues take a break for the duration of international blocs, there’s no such rest for Airtricity League clubs, with a full list of fixtures down for decision today and tomorrow – even if the cruel weather might still force a couple of cancellations.

Bohemians 0 Shamrock Rovers 0

Shamrock Rovers cruised to a 3-0 victory over St. Patrick's Athletic in the big Dublin derby at Tallaght Stadium.

Admittedly, it’s a wee bit early to be talking about table-toppers but, technically speaking at least, Bohemians travel to Turner’s Cross this evening as the Airtricity League frontrunners for what will be Cork City’s first home game of the 2013 campaign.

Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill believes the fate of Darron Gibson and other high-profile players who’ve switched allegiance from the North to the Republic should make younger players across the border think twice before following suit.

The 2013 campaign gets underway later tonight.

For the faithful, the dawning of the first day of the new Airtricity League season brings with it a familiar quickening of the pulse and the heady sensation that anything is possible.

Cork City delighted Turner's Cross as they hammered runaway Irish League leaders Cliftonville 4-0 in the pick of last night's Setanta Sports Cup first round, first leg clashes as the cross-border competition got under way.

Cork City make their return to the Setanta Cup at Turner’s Cross this evening, with Danske Bank Premiership leaders Cliftonville travelling south, and the Leesiders’ new captain Kevin Murray insists the hosts will be not be holding anything back despite it being their first competitive outing of the year.

New Shamrock Rovers manager Trevor Croly has said finding someone to fill the shooting boots of departed club legend Gary Twigg will be high up on his agenda.

Losing cup finalists St Patrick’s Athletic have called in the gardaí following abusive comments in social media directed at goalkeeper Brendan Clarke.