Limerick still out in front; Lampard’s Merseyside derby tactics border on ‘dumb’

It may only be April, but a bumper weekend of GAA championship action has us feeling like it's well and truly summer time. The result of the weekend undoubtedly was Galway's upset of an injury-hit Mayo, where the Tribesmen proved there was substance behind the glimpses of appealing style that has defined them over the past few years. In Munster, Limerick were good enough to get past the high-flying Waterford despite an injury to hurler of the year Cian Lynch, while Tipperary were dealt a crushing blow with their second consecutive defeat against Clare. Nicky English in his column this morning says that Limerick's ability to reshuffle the deck and still look so good despite a number of injuries shows a strength in depth that will worry those hoping for a competitive All-Ireland championship. In Leinster, Kilkenny, Dublin and Galway all safely secured wins of their own.

Frank Lampard set up Everton to sit back and invite Liverpool onto them on Sunday in a bid to try and contain their superior Merseyside neighbours. A 2-0 defeat suggests that it didn't work for the relegation-threatened side, and Ken Early explains his issues with that tactic today. Sitting back and not taking the game to the opposition with a high press is both outdated and 'dumb'. "The smart teams now go after the opposition. The smart teams chase the opposition. They express their humility by working harder than the opposition, by running more, by using all their energy to force the game in directions the opposition do not want." Among Sunday's other results, Lampard's former team Chelsea saw off West Ham thanks to a late Christian Pulisic strike.

Defeat was widely expected as an inevitability for Ireland in their Six Nations clash with England over in Leicester on Sunday, but the heavy nature of the 69-0 result will undoubtedly heighten the calls for contracts to be handed out to 15-a-side players to avoid them losing some of their best players to the Sevens outfit midway through European rugby's premier event.Still, despite the result, head coach Greg McWilliams found reasons for optimism: "I've been coaching now for the guts of 26 odd years and tactically, in terms of a group of players who stuck to task, that first half was pretty much how we wanted to go. It was really impressive, we stopped England playing, which is what we had to do to stay competitive." In terms of provincial action, Munster are definitely trending up after backing up their Champions Cup win over Exeter with a big interpro result against Ulster that has propelled them into third in the URC table. The province has definitely had its ups and downs this season, but Johann van Graan says that it is "a very happy war zone in the changing room after what we've gone through in the last few weeks."

Shane Lowry and Ian Poulter finished eight shots backof eventual winners Xander Shauffele and Patrick Cantlay at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. A final round of two under saw Lowry and his teammate drop back a touch as they ended up in 13th. Over in Spain, Niall Kearney was the sole Irish finisher as he completed the weekend in a tie for 67th on the DP World Tour.