The Morning Sports Briefing

Ireland sink Windies

Ireland's love affair with the Cricket World Cup continued as William Porterfield's side got their campaign off to a stunning start, soundly beating the West Indies in their Pool B opener in Nelson.

After winning the toss and opting to bowl Ireland made a tight start, picking up the wicket of danger man Chris Gayle cheaply, but they let their opponents break free in the latter stages of their innings with a Lendl Simmons ton and a knock of 89 from Darren Sammy helping the West Indies reach 304-7.

However another brilliant batting display, with big knocks from Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce and Nial O’Brien, saw Ireland chase down their target of 305 with 25 balls to spare, John Mooney hitting the winning runs after a late wobble.

FA Cup

Arsenal are through to the FA Cup quarter finals after an early Olivier Giroud brace helped them ease past Middlesbrough at the Emirates.

They'll be joined in the last eight by Bradford City, who produced another upset at Valley Parade as they beat Sunderland 2-0, while Tim Sherwood's half time intervention helped inspire Aston Villa to a 2-1 win over Leicester City at Villa Park.

The draw for the quarter final takes place at Deepdale tonight before Preston North End take on Manchester United in the final fifth round tie.

Lowry misses top 10

Shane Lowry missed out on back-to-back top 10 finishes following his one under par closing round in the AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, which left him tied for 21st place and nine shots off the lead of tournament winner Brandt Snedeker.

Dust settles

As the dust settles following Ireland's 18-11 Six Nations win over France on Saturday, preparation and recovery now begins for the Championship defining visit of England on March 1.

Ireland's immediate concern as they look towards that fixture is the fitness of Jamie Heaslip, who suffered a potential broken vertebrae after he was kneed in the back by Pascal Pape during a brutal, physical encounter at the Aviva.

One man who came through the game relatively unscathed (well, despite a giant gash on his eyebrow), was Johnny Sexton, who delivered a man of the match performance on his return from concussion on yet another weekend where head injuries were the hot topic.

The win over France made it nine in a row for Ireland but, echoing the sentiments of his coach Joe Schmidt, Conor Murray feels there is much to improve on before Stuart Lancaster's side come to town.

Dubs beat Tipp

Tipperary's habit of starting Allianz League campaigns slowly continued as they were well beaten by Ger Cunningham's Dublin, while Galway snatched victory at the death against Clare and a new-look Kilkenny beat Cork in yesterday's hurling.

Meanwhile Slaughtneil saw off Austin Stacks to reach the All-Ireland club final where they will play Corofin, who toppled St Vincent's on Saturday.

Mullins ready for Cheltenham

Cheltenham is only three weeks away, and Willie Mullins believes he is set to bring his most powerful ever team to racing's greatest festival, potentially planning three shots as securing an elusive Gold Cup.

What to watch out for:

Football:

FA Cup, Preston North End v Manchester United, Deepdale, BBC 1/Setanta, 7.30pm onwards

FA Cup 6th round draw, BBC 1, 7.35pm

Cricket:

World Cup Pool A, New Zealand v Scotland, Dunedin, Sky Sports 2, 9pm onwards