Irish coach Marco Tardelli has warned his World Cup hopefuls that they will need to be on full alert for the two legs of their playoff against France.

News from the 32: Antrim, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow

Dublin has been voted the friendliest city in Europe in a new poll of top tourist attractions. The Irish capital scooped the top spot ahead of

A 21-year-old Irish woman has died from swine flu while on holiday in Spain. Richie, a hairdresser, from the Four Winds area of south Belfast, died after becoming ill on holiday. She had been diagnosed with pneumonia and swine

U2 may have pumped $70 million into the Irish economy with their three Dublin shows in July, but the Irish have returned the favor by helping the band to rake in over $100 million in just its first 13 shows.

U2 have boosted the Irish economy by a whopping $70m with their three shows in Dublin this weekend. Experts say the band's three sell-out shows at Croke Park pumped $50m into Ireland's faltering economy. Restuarants, bars and hotels reported bumper earningas as fans flocked to the Irish capital to see the boys from Northside.

Celtic continued their impressive run of pre-season form, beating Spurs 2-0 to win the inaugural Wembley Cup.

Wembley Stadium was buzzing on Friday night as Tony Mowbray’s inspired Celtic team gave the new Bumble Bee kit a memorable first outing with a stylish 5-0 win over top Egyptian side Al-Ahly.

U2 have dumped Apple and taken a huge bite out of BlackBerry instead. The Irish rock giants have switched sides in a major new deal with Research in Motion which makes the ever-popular BlackBerry. The BlackBerry U2 deal was announced in March but the first ad only started appearing over the July 4 weekend.

The thousands of concert-goers expected at Dublin’s Croke Park for U2’s concerts on July 24, 25 and 27 has caused the stadium to heighten security and go forth with plans to shut down its GAA museum for the three dates.

The family men that make up U2 will call their summer houses in the South of France their home base during the European leg of their U2360 Tour this summer.

Irish chat show host Pat Kenny, host of the "Late Late Show," retired last Friday night and received one heck of a going away gift – an appearance by U2. The band chatted about any number of topics, including, naturally, the upcoming tour which they intend to be groundbreaking in every way.

Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday evening to be crowned champions of Europe and complete a never-before accomplished treble in the process.

Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that Irish International John O'Shea will start next week’s Champions League final for Manchester United against Barcelona in Rome.

Sir Alex Ferguson admits Rio Ferdinand may miss out on the Champions League final should he not be fit enough to face Hull at the weekend.

If fans are looking for U2 tickets this summer in Dublin, then they can’t complain that they still haven’t found what they are looking for.

UEFA has rejected Manchester United and Barcelona’s appeals against the suspensions handed out for the Champions League final.

Arsene Wenger has boldly predicted a ‘magnificent’ performance from Arsenal in the second leg of their Champions League semi final against Manchester United.

Chelsea kept the much vaunted Barcelona attack in check Tuesday night as Petr Cech was the star for the Blues in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal.

Chelsea are through to the semi-final of the Champions League after an epic 4-4 draw with Liverpool on Tuesday.

First, the "Taoiseach in the Nude" was Ireland's only truly naked problem. Now, a famed, or infamous, photographer who took pictures of thousands of naked people in Dublin and Cork last year is refusing an offer to exhibit the pictures in Ireland.

U2’s biggest mistake was their album and movie Rattle and Hum. That’s according to manager Paul McGuinness who says it was “too big,” “too controlled,” and “too

 A new survey form Hotel.Com has found that the price of a hotel room in Ireland went down by 17 percent last year. According to the Web site’s hotel price index, which surveys hotel prices in major destinations across the world, the average cost of an Irish hotel room in the final quarter of last year was

The fans are going wild for U2 across Europe. In Ireland, all 164,000 tickets for their two Dublin shows sold out within just 90 minutes. The Irish band is almost certain to add a third date to try and satisfy the massive demand.

Liverpool meet Chelsea again in an all-English tie while Arsenal face Villarreal and Manchester United take on Porto. Barcelona meet Bayern Munich in the only tie not featuring an English side.

As you’re probably well aware by now, U2 announced details of their upcoming world tour, “U2360,” on Monday. It’s going to last for the guts of two years, so there should be plenty of opportunity for fans to catch them live. The hometown crowd in

HIS latest critically acclaimed movie Vicky Christina Barcelona was filmed in Spain, and his previous three efforts were made in the U.K. Now Woody Allen has his sights set firmly on another location - Ireland.

AER Lingus ended its daily Shannon to London Heathrow flights on Sunday, and began its controversial new service from Belfast International Airport to Heathrow the following day.Aer Lingus will now operate three flights a day from Belfast to Heathrow, and the airline has set a goal of transporting 500,000 passengers from Belfast to all of its new destinations from the city by the end of the year."I remain very confident.

IN the end we did what we always do in such circumstances -- we sought out the sanctuary of the usual to celebrate the very unusual.

Paddy O'Shea's is, as you've probably guessed, an Irish bar. Not any old Irish bar but the newest -- and the best -- Irish bar in Beijing, capital city of the Olympic Games for the past three weeks.

GIOVANNI Trapattoni is not for turning on the Andy Reid saga -- he will continue to pick the team he feels is best suited for World Cup qualification despite the clamor to start Reid.

In the wake of last week's 1-0 win over Cyprus Trapattoni has warned Reid, yet to play for the new manager, that he's fallen out with bigger names in the past, including Ireland coach Liam Brady and UEFA President Michel Platini.

And Sunderland boss Roy Keane has told his Irish counterpart to do it his way as the country debates Reid's continued exclusion.

Roy Keane has admitted that even he doesn't know if he's the right man for the Sunderland job after a disastrous 4-1 home defeat to Bolton on Saturday plunged the club into the relegation zone.

The pressure is mounting on Keane at a club now controlled by American and not Irish investment.

He's spoken about making a film in Ireland before, and now Woody Allen is at it again - provided someone shows him the euros. In a weekend interview with The Irish Times, Allen stated quite clearly that he'd love to write and direct an Irish-themed movie, if funding was made available for his low-budget but highly prestigious films (Allen's latest, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," landed a Best Supporting Actress nod for Penelope Cruz, and she's expected to win the statue at the ceremony on Sunday.) "I'm willing to shoot in any place that finances my films.

Tobin is not an indigenous Irish name, but the family can be regarded as having become completely hibernicized. Its Irish form, Toibn, is a gaelicized version of the Norman 'St Aubyn.' Another interpretation is that the name was first called de St.