Monaghan squeezed through to the second round of the All-Ireland SFC Qualifier series with a nervy four-point win over a dogged Fermanagh side at Clones.

Fermanagh travel to Clones to face Monaghan in the pick of the ties

Eden Hazard scored twice as Belgium recovered from a blunder by Thibaut Courtois to beat Russia 3-1 last night and start European Championship qualifying campaign on a high.

The draw for the fourth round of the All-Ireland SFC has been made this morning.

The Waterford footballers’ joy at outlasting their hurling counterparts in the Championship has been tempered somewhat by an unkind Round 2 qualifier draw.

Are our hearts truly in these inquests any more, asks Larry Ryan.

If ever there was going to be a calming influence in the aftermath of the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup play-off calamity, there was always a possibility it might come from Chris Hughton, a man who has built his successful managerial career on the kind of understated common-sense approach which encourages a steady ship.

Liam Brady believes the lack of emerging talent is linked to Kerr’s absence from an active role in Irish football and that he should be brought back into the fold.

Northern Ireland face a huge battle to keep hold of in-demand manager Michael O’Neill after the Scottish Football Association yesterday made an official approach for the Armagh man.

Failure to reach next year’s World Cup has denied the FAI a potential €9m in prize money and allowances, thereby undermining their chances of becoming debt-free by 2020.

‘I thought that John and myself had agreed to stay on…but we’ll see.”

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

In preparing to face the threat of Danish dangerman Christian Eriksen in the World Cup play-off, Martin O’Neill believes his players are entitled to take encouragement from how they coped in the recent past with other standout stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gareth Bale and the Bosnian duo of Edin Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic.

Martin O’Neill has said he would be disappointed if James McClean was not feeling frustrated about his restricted game time at West Brom.

John Fallon breaks down the strengths and weaknesses of Ireland’s potential opponents...

What is the point of the play-offs?

The latest Fifa rankings have seen Ireland move up eight places to 26 but, despite that significant improvement, of the eight countries to qualify for the World Cup play-offs, only Greece, at 47, are ranked below Martin O’Neill’s team.

FIFA are "gathering information" of an off the ball incident involving Ashley Williams, which was captured on camera.

Sean Maguire’s tantalising taste of international football has left him ravenous for more.

Daryl Murphy will remember last Friday’s home game against Moldova as the night he trebled his international tally.

Chris Coleman has challenged Wales’ ‘Golden Generation’ to make more history in their pursuit of World Cup glory.

Peter Jackson on the son of an Irish emigrant who guided Wales to the World Cup finals and was Matt Busby’s right-hand man at Manchester United.

Cyrus Christie knows the score. The Middlesbrough defender isn’t harbouring any illusions about a long-term residency on the right side of Ireland’s back four.

While he fervently hopes that any end of era in Irish football is still a matter of months rather than days away, Martin O’Neill has said he expects a “natural exodus” of senior players once his team’s interest in World Cup 2018 is over.

With the changing of the Preston managerial guard which has seen Alex Neil replace Simon Grayson, game time at Deepdale has proved harder to come by for Daryl Horgan this season.

Wales teenager Ben Woodburn has been backed to “thrive” and fill the huge void left by Gareth Bale’s World Cup absence.

Northern Ireland 0 Republic of Ireland 2: Megan Campbell starred for Ireland last night as they easily overcame Northern Ireland in Lurgan to begin their 2019 World Cup quest with victory.

France boss Didier Deschamps has stressed the importance of his players remaining calm about the situation in their World Cup qualifying group and approaching tonight’s match against Holland without fear (Sky Sports, 7.45pm).

Neil Lennon says Martin O’Neill could still manage a Premier League club, but he wonders how young players would deal with his old-school ways.

A chance meeting with Stephen Hunt after an Ireland training session this week reminded Jonny Hayes of one of his career turning points.

Since he’s something of an old-school sort, a tenacious midfielder who likes to get his tackles in, it’s probably just as well that Harry Arter isn’t one of the eight Irish players on yellow cards going into Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Georgia in Tbilisi.

Ramsey was substituted at half-time for Arsenal on Sunday.

Mayo face a tough test in round 2A.

While his much less celebrated work off the ball is far too honest to merit ‘a luxury player’ tag — you can understand why Martin O’Neill harbours equally honest reservations about him, writes Liam Mackey.

Seamus Coleman won’t allow ominous weather bulletins, or storm clouds blowing towards Everton, distract him from his priority of World Cup qualification.

England 3 Scotland 0: On a day when both teams took on FIFA and won, the 113th match between England and Scotland ended, as it has done rather often in recent history, with three points for the men in white but frustration for those north of the border who left Wembley ruminating on missed chances and wasted opportunities.

The Irish team is preparing for an evening in Vienna which should be at once bone-rattlingly cold and hot as all hell. 

For ‘The Third Man’ read ‘The Third Match’ (featuring, um, Harry Liam). So here we are back in Vienna where, this evening, your painfully punning correspondent will be making his third trip to the Ernst-Happel Stadion.

Hoolahan simply makes everybody else in the Irish team play better and, because they know they can give him the ball, his mere presence takes the pressure off his team mates, writes Liam Brady.

Dundalk’s trip to Russia received a welcome boost yesterday with Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle included in Martin O’Neill’s provisional 35-man squad for next week’s World Cup qualifier against Austria.