The Morning Sports Briefing

Soccer: FA Cup

Liverpool's FA Cup campaign was last night ended by a 120th minute Angelo Ogbonna header to put West Ham into the fifth round at Upton Park.

Jurgen Klopp made his return to the Liverpool dugout on a night when Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi all made their injury comebacks for a second string side which only included one player from the weekend’s league draw with Sunderland - goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

West Ham took the lead through a Michail Antonio volley, before a second half free-kick from Coutinho brought the teams level. Liverpool, buoyed by the return of Sturridge, spurned a number of clear cut chances with Christian Benteke again struggling for form in front of goal - and so Ogbonna would punish their wastefulness in extra time.

Rugby

The big breaking news yesterday was the announcement of Paul O'Connell's retirement from rugby due to the hamstring injury which ended his World Cup, and in this morning's papers Gerry Thornley remembers one of the greats.

“More than anything, he left an indelible imprint on the Munster and Irish number five jerseys. He was a colossus, a wonderful lineout exponent, an unstinting carrier and tackler, who led defensive lines into battle, cleared out rucks, poached and came up with all manner of big plays at big times.

Thomond Park was his coliseum, and driving back Sebastien Chabal always springs readily to mind.”

Meanwhile Gordon D'Arcy's looks back on the weekend's Six Nations draw with Wales, and he's encouraged by "the defensive excellence of Keith Earls and Andrew Trimble along with clear evidence that Joe Schmidt has added to the playbook."

Ahead of Ireland's next game against France this weekend in Paris and the main injury doubts are Earls (concussion) and Simon Zebo (knee). Sean O'Brien has returned to full training, as has Tommy O'Donnell.

GAA

Sean Moran's column this morning is addressing why the GAA's patched-up regulations on the use of property no longer make sense. "Last week there was a world of poor publicity about how Dromard, a little club in Longford trying to make ends meet had been fined for allowing a commercial soccer school to use its facilities last August. And, ran the subtext, everyone at it...."

What to watch out for

Keep an eye out today too for the big Leinster schools clash between Blackrock and Belvedere, that's live from Donnybrook.

Setanta from 2.55pm

The first of this year's Sigerson Cup quarter finals sees Ulster University, Jordanstown take on St Mary's at Jordanstown Campus at 2pm today.