It may have been another miserable week for Coventry City, after defeats by Luton in the Worthington Cup, Arsenal in the league and Dion Dublin's falling out with the club (not to mention the accident that resulted in the death of a security man at Highfield Road on Saturday) but for defender Liam Daish it at least marked his return to the first-team squad, after almost two years out injured.

The former Republic of Ireland central defender, now 30, picked up a serious knee injury in January 1997 and only returned to action a fortnight ago when he played for Coventry's reserves.

Hopes of a fresh start too for former Irish under-21 Andy Turner who joined Crystal Palace on a free transfer from Portsmouth during the week - the third time in his career that he has been signed by Terry Venables.

Venables gave Turner his debut at Spurs in 1992, when he was just 17, and signed him four years later for Portsmouth, where he languished in the reserves this season.

Another Irish winger, Alan Moore, switched clubs last week, moving on a month's loan from Middlesbrough to Barnsley, who hope to make the move permanent. The 24-year-old, who played over 100 games for 'Boro, made his debut in Saturday's 1-1 draw away to Wolves.

Everton's Richard Dunne made his second appearance of the season, coming on as a sub in the 4-1 defeat by Manchester United at Goodison Park - he can at least claim that all four goals had been scored by the time he took up position in the Everton defence.

In Division Three, Niall Inman, a member of Brian Kerr's bronze-winning under-20 squad in Malaysia two years ago, was one of Peterborough's scorers in their 4-2 defeat by Rotherham on Saturday, while his fellow Irish under-21 Kevin Maher opened the scoring for Southend in their 2-1 win against Darlington.