The other soccer stories of the week in brief...

Celtic league hopes take a nose-dive

Celtic fell 10 points behind league leaders Rangers when Danny Galbraith’s stoppage-time winner gave Hibernian all three points in a dramatic match at Parkhead last night.

Marc-Antoine Fortune headed Celtic in to a fifth-minute lead from a Paul Caddis corner and the home side appeared to be cruising.

However, in the 26th minute, Republic of Ireland international Anthony Stokes found room inside the Celtic box to flick a header from Derek Riordan’s corner past Artur Boruc for the equaliser.

Meanwhile, Steven Davis claimed his first goal of the season as Rangers strengthened their grip at the top with a win over St Mirren. Nacho Novo marked his comeback from injury with a late strike to put the game beyond doubt.

Cork owner Coughlan holds talks with consortium

CORK CITY owner Tom Coughlan has described a meeting held with members of a consortium interested in acquiring a significant stake in the club as "great" but said that it could take "a few weeks to iron out" the detail of any deal that might result in a change of ownership, writes Emmet Malone.

Coughlan yesterday lost his attempt in the High Court to have the decision by the FAI to ban him from representing City at association level and fine him €5,000 after having found him guilty of bringing the club into disrepute.

However, he has been in talks with the group, headed up by local businessman Michael O’Connell and advised by Jim McCarthy of wealth management firm Quintas, for several weeks. A decision on the proposed sale had been expected before tomorrow which is the deadline for City to pay debts, estimated to total between €130,000 and €200,000.

The ability of City to secure a license to play in the top flight this season depends on the club making the required payments and the ongoing uncertainty has resulted in manager Roddy Collins making provisional offers only to most of the players recruited in recent weeks.

Former Shelbourne striker Anto Flood linked up with the squad yesterday but Collins confirmed that the Dubliner and a number of other players will be free to take up other offers if City find themselves playing outside the Premier division.

Wolves set for another Hunt bid

WOLVES manager Mick McCarthy is set to make a final bid to land Stephen Hunt from Hull City after the two clubs play at the KC Stadium on Saturday, writes Emmet Malone.

McCarthy, who hailed Kevin Doyle’s performance against Liverpool on Tuesday as one of the best by a centre forward at Molineux in recent years, has failed in previous bids to have the striker’s friend join him.

But club chief executive, Jez Moxley, insists that the club has not given up on the 28-year-old and that an improved bid on the one of roughly €4 million plus add-ons most recently rejected by Hull is likely to be made before Monday’s transfer deadline.

“We haven’t given up on making at least one more signing and will probably make a fourth and final bid for a player we’ve been pursuing throughout January,” he said.

O'Dea aims to stay in Celtic team

DARREN O’DEA’S sudden re-emergence at Celtic could scupper Kevin Kilbane’s hopes of a move to the SPL with Tony Mowbray pointing to the Dubliner’s potential to fill the left back role in the event that Danny Fox completes a proposed move to Burnley.

Celtic have been linked with a move for Kilbane who is reportedly anxious to secure more regular first-team football. Mowbray is said to be keen on recruiting Kilbane and Fox’s departure would open up a vacancy but the Celtic boss insisted that no move for an outside replacement would necessarily be made. O’Dea, meanwhile, is revelling in being back in the Celtic manager’s plans after turning down the opportunity to go out on loan to other SPL sides since returning from a disappointing spell at Reading.

“I have played in the last three games and been captain as well, that’s a massive honour for me,” said the Irish defender. “Now my aim is to stay in the team.”