England are expected in town any day now, Ireland are already deep in conclave at their Kildare retreat and Simon Zebo is starting in to a two-week break from rugby that will involve some time in Cork and a trip to Dubai.

Retail recovering on Irish high streets, Cork's oldest gay bar closes, Bingham wins World snooker championship and Bressie writes about marriage equality. These are some of the latest and most read news stories on irishexaminer.com this morning.