The domestic regatta season officially kicks off this coming Saturday with the largest ever Neptune Regatta taking place in Islandbridge, Dublin.

There isn’t a club in Europe that can match Toulouse for tradition and history but the French giants travel to Limerick this week weighed down by the woes of the current generation rather than the haul of silverware that once made them the most feared side on the continent.

His season will end either in New York or Wembley but for this dilemma it’s natural for Eunan O’Kane to put club ahead of country.

Martin O’Neill has defended Ireland’s handling of the injury-prone James McCarthy but, overnight, Ronald Koeman has strongly criticised both the player and the Ireland manager for the ultimately unfruitful decision to select him for last week’s World Cup qualifier against Wales.

Here's your evening update.

A strong start and eliminating victory-killing rounds will be the key to Rory McIlroy finally donning a green jacket at Augusta National.

Defiance sounds out through Seán O’Donoghue’s every word; he doesn’t just have belief, he bristles with it.

Seamus Coleman could be back running in five months and must take encouragement from others who have recovered from broken legs, according to a lower-limb sports injury specialist.

John Egan emerged from his first senior cap battered and bruised yet determined to play a part in the rest of Ireland’s World Cup qualification campaign.

The fabled Icelandic thunderclap might have reverberated around Lansdowne Road now and again but, in truth, this was a game which represented the calm after the storm, on the temperature scale a production rather closer to ice than the fire of Friday’s torrid affair.

“There were a number of players making debuts and that’s great for them to go out there and wear an Irish shirt,” said O’Neill. 

There was a moment during the last World Cup finals when it seemed the Dutch might be about to write a new chapter in their glorious football history, writes David Shonfield

If, as is now widely feared, Coleman will not play again this year, then O’Neill will have a decision to make about who will become his first-choice full-back, writes Liam Mackey.

After their summer heroics, Iceland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson hopes his team can use tonight’s friendly against Ireland to further rid themselves of the hangover which followed.

As zombie series The Walking Dead wraps up for the season, Norman Reedus tells Ed Power how keeping it real has resulted in phenomenal success

I suffer from an eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa. I don't want to be ashamed of it and hide it because that's what essentially caused it.

World Cup qualifier Group F

Although Martin O’Neill has described the surgery on Seamus Coleman’s broken leg as “successful”, the Ireland manager said it’s too soon to put a timeframe on the player’s recovery.

I said in this column before kick-off on Friday I would have happily taken a draw against Wales. Well, Ireland did get a valuable point on that night, but only at a very heavy price.