EVERY WEEKDAY MORNING, TheScore.ie brings you the stories you need to know before 9am.
1. #SIX NATIONS Ireland’s rugby stars gathered for their first training session of the year in Limerick yesterday.
Munster man James Coughlan was a late addition to the panel, as Leo Cullen will indeed miss the campaign.
2. #CARLING CUP Last night, Cardiff City booked their place in the League Cup final with a penalty shoot-out win over fellow Championship outfit Crystal Palace.
Anthony Gardner turned the ball into his own net in the first half to level the tie up at 1-1 on aggregate. He’d scored the winner in the first leg in London.
Though Palace lost Irishman Paddy McCarthy to two yellow cards, they held out for 120 minutes before eventually losing out in the shoot-out. Here’s how it went.
3. #CARLING CUP The Bluebirds will learn who they’ll face at Wembley after tonight’s meeting of Manchester City and Liverpool in the second leg of their semi-final. We’ll go minute-by-minute after our tea.
4. #AUSSIE OPEN Maria Sharapova got the better of Russian compatriot Ekaterina Makarova today to advance to a semi-final meeting with Petra Kvitova at the Australian Open earlier.
5. #EL CLASICO Barcelona ‘welcome’ Real Madrid to the Nou Camp this evening for the second leg of Cope del Rey quarter-final tonight. It could get tasty.
6. #TAX CASE A court heard that Harry Redknapp threatened to sue ‘the bollocks’ off a newspaper journalist and kept the existence of an off-shore bank account secret for years, a court heard yesterday.
His tax evasion trial, with co-accused Milan Madaric, continues today.
