EVERY WEEKDAY MORNING, TheScore.ie brings you the stories you need to know before 9am.
1. #CARLING CUP Crystal Palace have one foot in the Carling Cup final after they beat Cardiff City 1-0 in last night’s semi-final first leg. Defender Anthony Gardner headed home the game’s only goal in the 43rd minute.
If you missed it, you can read how the action unfolded here.
Tonight, Manchester City and Liverpool face off in the first leg of their semi-final at Eastlands. And in the Premier League, Spurs take on Everton at White Hart Lane. Join us later on for minute-by-minute coverage of tonight’s games.
2. #AUSTRALIAN OPEN Tennis hopeful Conor Niland will have to wait another couple of hours before launching his attempt to qualify for next week’s Australian Open.
The Limerick man’s first round qualifier against Stephane Bohli was rained off this morning and has been rescheduled to begin around midnight tonight (Irish time).
3. #SIX NATIONS Interim England coach Stuart Lancaster will today name his panel for the upcoming RBS Six Nations Championship.
Lancaster is expected to name a handful of uncapped players in his 32-man squad, including Saracens back Owen Farrell and Scarlets number eight Ben Morgan.
4. #DUBS Pat Gilroy will have to plan with out David Henry this year. The Raheny man has decided to call it a day with the Dubs after 10 seasons in blue.
5. #HOOP DREAMS Mark Hughes was yesterday announced as the new QPR manager, as expected.
The former Man City and Blackburn boss — who signed a two-and-a-half year deal — says he is excited by the ambition of the west London outfit.
6. #DIFFERENT CLASS Some 75 of hurling’s most famous figures have been included on the shortlist for for the Irish Daily Mail Fitzgibbon Cup Team of the Century which is due to be announced later this month as part of the centenary celebrations of the Higher Education competition.
Between them, UCD (21) and UCC (18) account for over half of the total nominations, including the only sets of family members to make the final cut, UCD father and son Billy and Tony Loughnane and UCC brothers John and Eddie Enright.
7. #OUCH Vincent Kompany’s appeal against the controversial red card shown to him in Manchester City’s 3-2 FA Cup defeat against Manchester United on Sunday was dismissed by the FA yesterday.
The Manchester City captain was sent off for serious foul play after just 12 minutes when referee Chris Foy judged his sliding tackle on Nani to be worthy of straight red card.
Kompany begins his four-match ban against Liverpool this evening.
