The Andy Farrell era is up and running after the recently installed Irish head coach unveiled a 45-man squad for Ireland's first get-together under his watch, and Leinster fullback Rob Kearney is not included. Others to miss out are Seán Cronin, John Ryan, Jack Carty, Jack Conan and Tadhg Beirne. The latter will have to undergo surgery on his ankle after it was confirmed that the Munster lock fractured it in Saturday's loss to Saracens. Johnny Sexton has rejected strong overtures from the Top 14 leaders Lyon to join them on a lucrative two-year deal, Champions Cup organisers are considering reducing the competition to 18 teams and introducing money-spinning home and away semi-finals, and Gerry Thorley's column this morning reflects on this season's competition so far: "the make-up of the quarter-final stages has rarely seemed so predictably packed with the usual suspects."
In last night's Premier League encounter at Selhurst Park, Wilfried Zaha rescued a point for Crystal Palace against rivals Brighton with a superb strike 14 minutes from time to ensure the visitors were made to pay for a lack of killer edge in front of goal. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp - whose team were drawn to play Atlético Madrid in yesterday's Champions League last-16 draw - will gather with his players tonight in their Doha team hotel to watch their League Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa. The European champions and Premier League leaders are in Qatar ahead of Wednesday's Club World Cup semi-final against Mexico's Monterrey. However, a fixture clash means another Liverpool team, made up of youth players, will be facing Villa around 24 hours earlier.
Some of the main findings of the latest research carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ERSI) into the lives of senior intercounty GAA players has revealed some worrying figures - nearly nine-out-of-10 GAA players are binge-drinking during the off-season, one in four GAA players are choosing a career path after second-level education that would best facilitate them playing the senior intercounty game, and 40 per cent of them are also admitting they would not choose the same path again. Furthermore the research finds that three-quarters of GAA players have never been tested for doping during their intercounty career.
Meanwhile the final Added Time podcast of 2019 is a review of the year in women's sport. With The Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year awards coming up this Friday, the top five women's sport moments of the year are talked through and decided upon. You can listen to that here.
