Dundalk skipper Stephen O’Donnell doesn’t miss a beat when asked to nominate a dark horse contender for the new SSE Airtricity Premier Division season which kicks off tomorrow night.

Cork City manager John Caulfield says that, in the run-up to Sunday’s FAI Cup final against Dundalk, he cannot afford to be distracted by talk of players who might leave the club in the close season.

The first man to captain a Cork City side to a League of Ireland title believes it may take years before the scale of the club’s achievements this season are recognised.

As we know only too well, Seamus Coleman won’t be on the pitch in the Aviva on Sunday but if his replacement Cyrus Christie and the rest of the Irish players can channel some of the spirit Captain Coleman’s men showed on a famous night in Lille last summer, Austria in the World Cup qualifiers will find themselves up against what Italy were forced to confront in the finals of the European Championships.

He’s won everything Gaelic football has to offer and been handsomely rewarded with silverware, but Frank McGlynn has revealed his sporting career could have been panned out very differently — if it hadn’t been for Wayne Rooney.

When you’ve spent a career scrapping in every tier of English football, as Rene Gilmartin has, a promotion to the Premier League is treated with a healthy does of scepticism rather than elation.

Former Ireland winger Damien Duff admits the transition to coaching has been a tougher challenge than any of his battles on the pitch.

Q&A

Long-serving goalkeeper Gary Connaughton, who won an historic first Leinster SFC title with Westmeath in 2004, has announced his retirement from inter-county football.

When the final whistle blew and the fans packed into The Showgrounds rushed on to the pitch to celebrate Sligo Rovers’ first league title since 1977, it felt like the centre of the universe was a small town on the north-west coast.

Dundalk might be in the doldrums off the pitch but it certainly didn’t affect their performance on it last night, as they held reigning champions Shamrock Rovers at Oriel Park.

Irish teenager Pierce Sweeney is hoping to emulate the likes of Kevin Doyle and Shane Long after swapping League of Ireland football for newly promoted Premier League side Reading.

There was widespread shock in Galway yesterday after the sudden death of former Republic of Ireland international Eamon Deacy.

THIS coming Sunday is a third FAI Intermediate Cup final with Avondale United for Eoghan Lougheed.

IN 1992 my father fired myself, my brother and two cousins into a car as a long, wet Sunday yawned in front of us.

SO how much does it mean to score a goal for your country?

A HIGH-PROFILE FAI delegation led by chief executive John Delaney will be on Foyleside this morning to consult with concerned prominent members of the local business community to discuss the next way possible forward for League of Ireland’s expelled side Derry City.

KEVIN DOYLE’S transfer to Wolves brings an unexpected bonus to Wexford Youths where he spent a chunk of his teenage years. Wolves have agreed to bring a team to Ferrycarrig Park and Doyle can’t wait to return.

FAHRUDIN Kuduzovic has no fears about beginning his Cork City career at former club, Sligo Rovers, tonight (Showgrounds, 8pm). With a past like his, how could anything faze him?

With problems in the domestic game and the financial challenges of a new Lansdowne Road his critics bid to land blows, but FAI chief executive John Delaney sees a bright and prosperous future for Irish football — at home and abroad. He outlined his vision to football correspondent, Liam Mackey.

LINFIELD at home to Derry City in the first game of the tournament is the big talking point of this year’s Setanta Cup draw which also sees Cork City face familiar opposition in the form of Portadown and Drogheda United.

JOHN O’REGAN has a vision. The secretary of the Kerry District Soccer League is adamant that the Kingdom will have a team competing in the eircom League within two years.

It was almost like old times at Rugby League headquarters with Maurice Lindsay back in the hot-seat.