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Premier League
Jeff Hendrick’s goal scoring cameo from the bench last Saturday earned him a starting role for Burnley who defeated Norwich City by two goals to nil at Turf Moor in the Premier League this Saturday afternoon. Robbie Brady was again on the substitute bench, replacing Hendrick for the final two minutes. Kevin Long is now struggling to make the matchday squad and was again omitted today. Seamus Coleman and Everton failed to improve on their disappointing performance at Bournemouth on Sunday last and went down to a two nil defeat by visitors  Sheffield United and their Irish trio of John Egan, Enda Stevens and Callum Robinson at Goodison Park this afternoon. Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion played out a scoreless draw in the late kick-off at St James Park. Aaron Connolly was introduced from the visitors substitute bench on seventy minutes and looked quite impressive in his 27 minute appearance. Shane Duffy remained unused on the bench.

Championship
Elland Road hosted the 12.30pm kick-off between Leeds United and Derby County in the Championship on Saturday afternoon. The visiting ‘Rams’, skippered by Richard Keogh, earned a one all draw with  Jason Knight making ma cameo appearance as a late substitute. Daniel Crowley and his Birmingham City colleagues went down to a one nil defeat by visitors Preston North End at St Andrew’s with the goal scored by Sean Maguire after 23 minutes. Alan Browne and Joe Rafferty were vey late substitutes for the ‘Lilywhites’. Callum O’Dowda started for Bristol City but was withdrawn on 59 minutes of their scoreless draw with visitors Swansea City at Ashton Gate.   Darren Randolph and his Middlesbrough colleagues went down to a one nil defeat at Cardiff City. James Collins led the line for Luton Town who crashed to a three nil home defeat by Hull City while Millwall included Alex Pearce and loanee Jayson Molumby in their starting eleven for their two one defeat by visitors QPR, for whom Ryan Manning started with Conor Masterson unused on the bench.  Reading went down to a two one home defeat by Blackburn Rovers who included loanee Greg Cunningham, Daragh Lenihan and Derrick Williams in their starting eleven. Another loanee Josh Cullen, started for Charlton Athletic who went down to a two nil defeat at Wigan Athletic.

League One
Alan Judge started for Ipswich Town who defeated Gillingham by one goal to nil at Priestfield, to maintain their top of the table position. Another loanee, Kieran O’Hara, suffered disappointment with Burton Albion who conceded two added time goals at Tranmere Rovers to lose by two goals to one. Portsmouth included Ronan Curtis in their starting eleven as they went down to a one nil defeat at  Wycombe Wanderers.

Match Series 32 in the Premier Division of the Airtricity League took place this Friday evening and produced just three goals in five contests, with three scoreless draws. Leaders Dundalk scored the only goal against Waterford in front of the live RTE 2 cameras at the RSC. Despite playing the majority of the match with ten men following the 20th minutes dismissal of Ronan Murray, Sligo Rovers defeated UCD by two goals to nil at the Bowl. Second place Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic played out a scoreless Tallaght Stadium draw while third place Bohemian earned a point at fourth place Derry City in another scoreless encounter at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium. Cork City played host to Finn Harps in another Turner’s Cross goalless stalemate. 

                            P   W  D  L   F   A   G/D   Pts
Dundalk                    31  24  5  2  64  13   51    77
Shamrock Rovers            31  20  5  6  53  18   35    65
Bohemian                   32  14  8 10  42  26   16    50
Derry City                 31  12 12  7  45  29   16    48
St Patrick’s Athletic      32  13  9 10  26  28   -2    48
Sligo Rovers               32  10 11 11  36  41   -5    41
Waterford                  32   9  7 16  38  50  -12    34
Cork City                  31   7 10 14  25  39  -14    31
Finn Harps                 32   6  6 20  25  59  -34    24
UCD                        32   5  3 24  21  72  -51    18

St Mary’s Stadium will host the South Coast meeting of Southampton and AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League at 8pm on Friday evening.

The hosts include Shane Long in their matchday squad but Michael Obafemi remains on the casualty list.

Our Senior international goalkeeping debutant Mark Travers has not yet been selected in the visitors matchday squad, with the same fate befalling Ireland U21 midfielder Gavin Kilkenny who scored a midweek hat-trick for the ‘Cherries’ U21 side against Basingstoke in the Hampshire Senior Cup.

Irish involvement in the Group Stage of the Europa League is centred on Glasgow Celtic and Wolverhampton Wanderers, with both clubs  commencing their challenge this Thursday evening.

Jonny Hayes was introduced from the Glasgow Celtic bench after 69 minutes of their commendable Group E one all away draw with French side Stade Rennais in Roazhon Park. Hayes filled in as an emergency left back and performed with distinction during his 25 minute involvement. Summer signings from the Ireland underage ranks, Jonathan Afolabi, Luca Connell and Lee O’Connor must await their opportunity for first team involvement. In the other Group E contest, CFR Cluj from Romania defeated Italian visitors SS Lazio by two goals to one.

Matt Doherty was in the Wolverhampton Wanderers starting eleven for their disappointing one nil Group K defeat by Portuguese visitors Sporting Braga at Molineaux this Thursday evening. The other Group K contest saw Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia, conquerors of Dundalk in the preliminary round, defeat visitors Besiktas of Turkey by four goals to two.

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The remaining 2019 Extra.ie FAI Cup quarter final between Bohemian and non-league Crumlin United took place in Richmond Park this Monday evening with the Premier Division side emerging as two nil victors.
Bohemian will now host Shamrock Rovers in the semi-final at 7.45pm on Friday the 27th September with the RTE cameras bringing live coverage of the action.
RTE 2 will also bring live coverage of the second semi-final which takes place in the Showgrounds at 5pm on Sunday the 29th September between Sligo Rovers and Dundalk.

Our U17 Women, with new Head Coach James Scott at the helm, were totally dominant as they swept aside their three Group rivals in the Preliminary Round of the 2020 European Championship to qualify for the Elite Group stage.
Ireland crushed bottom seeds Albania by ten goals to nil in their opening encounter on Tuesday the 10th of September and followed with a six nil victory over mini-Tournament hosts Lithuania three days later.
Their final Group contest took place this Monday afternoon against Greece, who had also beaten the same opponents in their opening fixtures, with Ireland running out victors by five goals to nil.

           P  W  D  L   F   A  Pts
Ireland    3  3  0  0  21   0   9
Greece     3  2  0  1   4   5   6
Lithuania  3  1  0  2   2  10   3
Albania    3  0  0  3   1  13   0