Pick Of The Week

Monday

Eurosport (10.0 a.m.) - Live Tennis: The Australian Open. The opening day's play from Melbourne of the first Grand Slam of the year. Eurosport has live coverage through the fortnight with BBC2 showing highlights each afternoon.

SKY Sports 1 (7.0) - Live Football: Southampton v Manchester United (Premiership, kick-off 8.0). United haven't won at the Dell since 1993 but now that Carlton Palmer is in the Southampton defence their luck should change.

Tuesday

SKY Sports 1 (7.0) - Live Football: Liverpool v Newcastle (Premiership, kickoff 7.45). Alan Shearer's back, David James is being praised by his manager, Newcastle's defence is as airtight as Liverpool's - cue seven-goal thriller between the teams at Anfield for the third successive year.

TnaG (10.30) - World Cup Gold: Scotland v Holland (1978 World Cup Finals). It was the usual World Cup script for Scotland in Argentina - match one: lost to Peru, match two: drew with Iran, match three: needed a minor miracle against the Dutch to progress to the second round. Enter Wee Archie Gemmill and what amounted to a near miracle.

Wednesday

Network Two (7.0) - The Soccer Show. News and features from the Irish domestic and international football scene.

Thursday

SKY Sports 1 (6.0 a.m.) - Live Golf: The Johnnie Walker Classic. The first tournament of the 1998 European Tour comes live from Phuket, Thailand. (I don't understand it either). Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo and Greg Norman are among the leading contenders.

TnaG (10.30) - World Cup Gold: Republic of Ireland v Malta. A full re-run of the World Cup qualifier at Lansdowne Road in May 1989.

Friday

Network Two (8.0) - The Grip. The Irish bobsleigh team are profiled this week as they finalise their preparations for next month's Winter Olympics in Japan.

Network Two (8.30) - Action Replay: West Germany v Holland (The 1974 World Cup Final).

Network Two (9.0) - Live Basketball: The Sprite Cup Semi-finals. Coverage from the National Arena in Tallaght of the men's and women's semi-finals.

Network Two (10.50) - Boxing: The National Senior Championships. Highlights of the finals held earlier in the evening at the National Stadium.

UTV (12.10 am) - Friday Night's All Wright. Having given up goalscoring as a bad job Ian Wright makes his debut as a chat-show host - tonight's guests include Lionel Richie and Naseem Hamed. Lionel Richie? Get yer boots back on Ian.

Saturday

Network Two (2.45) - Saturday Sport Live: Middlesborough v Arsenal (FA Cup fourth round, kick-off 3.0). Live coverage of Paul Merson's revenge for Arsene Wenger's decision to banish him to the Nationwide Football League.

Sunday

Channel Four (1.15) - Live Foot- ball: AC Milan and Fiorentina (Serie A, kick-off 1.30)

UTV (1.30) - Live Football: Manchester City v West Ham (FA Cup fourth round, kick-off 2.0). And City fans thought things were grim at Maine Road under Alan Ball?

Network Two (1.30), BBC2 (2.40) - Live Horse Racing. The AIG Champion Hurdle, at 2.45, is the highlight of the meeting at Leopardstown.

SKY Sports 2 (4.0) - Live Football: Stevenage Borough v Newcastle United (FA Cup fourth round, kick-off 4.30).

SKY Sports 1 (10.30), CHANNEL 4 (10.50) - Live American Football: Green Bay Packers v Denver Broncos (Super Bowl XXXII). Defending champions Green Bay meet Denver at the Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.