Sports Digest

A round-up of today's other sports news

RTÉ announce shortlist of seven for Sports Person of Year award

RTÉ have announced the shortlist of seven finalists for both the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year Award and the RTÉ Team of the Year Award (to be presented live on RTÉ One at 9.35pm on Friday).

The shortlist consists of: Waterford hurler Dan Shanahan; golf's British Open Championship winner Padraig Harrington; three-in-a-row European Union boxing gold medal winner Katie Taylor; Irish athletics star David Gillick; 2007 All-Ireland winning GAA footballer Marc Ó Se; World Rally Championship Rookie of The Year Shaun Gallagher; Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe-winning trainer Aidan O'Brien.

The RTÉ Sports Team of the Year shortlist include: the Kilkenny hurling team; the Irish cricket team; first-time League of Ireland Premier Division champions Drogheda United; three-in-a-row All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football champions Cork; Special Olympics Team Ireland; the Wexford camogie team and the Kerry senior football All-Ireland-winning team.

Ashton set to be confirmed as coach

England head coach, Brian Ashton, is set to be confirmed in his job tomorrow but, with less than seven weeks to the start of the Six Nations Championship, he faces a frontrow crisis.

Captain Phil Vickery and Perpignan's Perry Freshwater face disciplinary hearings this month on charges of alleged foul play in European Cup matches. They face suspensions of between one and two months if found guilty.

Vickery was cited for reportedly trampling on the Clermont Auvergne lock Thibaut Privat. Freshwater was cited for elbowing the London Irish flanker Kieran Roche during a European Cup on Saturday.