Shrewsbury Town and Liverpool will have to do it all again after the League One side earned a 2-2 draw and with it an FA Cup fourth round replay, as they staged a brilliant comeback at New Meadow yesterday evening. The visitors had moved into 2-0 lead in the early stages of the second-half thanks to an early strike from Curtis Jones and an own goal from Donald Love - however a late brace from former Hibernian striker Jason Cummings earned the Salopians a lucrative replay at Anfield. Elsewhere Manchester United found respite in the mud as they thrashed Tranmere Rovers 6-0 on a terrible pitch at Prenton Park to book their place in the fifth round. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side had endured a tough week but six different goalscorers - Harry Maguire, Diogo Dalot, Jesse Lingard, Phil Jones, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood - steadied the ship ahead of Wednesday's League Cup clash with Manchester City. City are also through after they eased past 10-man Fulham at the Etihad, Pep Guardiola's side winning 4-0 after Tim Ream's early red card. The draw for the fifth round will be made at 7.19pm (BBC One) ahead of Arsenal's clash with Bournemouth on the south coast.
The opening rounds of the Allianz Hurling and Football leagues concluded yesterday, and there were early signs of hope for the Waterford hurlers after they recovered from a slow start to beat Cork 1-24 to 3-17 at Walsh Park. Liam Cahill's side conceded two early goals before rallying and he was proud of the response shown during his first game in charge: "What a time to give them away - early. That was a real test of the character of the boys to come back, keep the scoreboard ticking over. Keep their heads." Elsewhere on the day Kilkenny made light work of Richie Leahy's red card and of Dublin, as they ran out 3-21 to 0-18 in Nowlan Park, while Galway and Clare thrashed Westmeath and Carlow respectively. In the NFL Divison One, Padraic Joyce'sGalway tenure got off to a bright start as they edged Monaghan 1-14 to 0-16 in Salthill, while Tyrone spoiled Meath's return to the top tier with a 1-14 to 1-9 victory in Omagh. Those games followed a thriller in Croke Park on Saturday night - Dublin and Kerry's 1-19 to 1-9 draw ensuring the year started with a bang.
Andy Farrell will name the first Ireland XV of his tenure tomorrow, ahead of Saturday's Six Nations opener against Scotland in Dublin. And Brian O'Driscoll has backed Conor Murray to hold off the challenge of John Cooney and retain the number nine jersey, despite the brilliant form of the the Ulster scrumhalf. He said: "I think you've got to be careful about how many people you blood at one time in the key positions and halfback is vital. He hasn't been the Conor he's been in the last seven or eight years this last year, 18 months. A lot of the time his 70-80 per cent is most people's 100 per cent and there's a confidence and a calmness you get and an understanding that he knows how to work a team around the park." We have previewed each team ahead of the Championship and rated their chances of lifting the title - or wooden spoon. You can read all of those today, starting with Ireland which is available HERE.
Rory McIlroy's challenge faded in the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open, as he carded a final round of 69 to finish three stroked behind tournament winner Marc Leishman at Torrey Pines. The Australian's putter helped him to a fine 65 on Sunday, in a final round which was overshadowed by the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant. Former LA Lakers star Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, Los Angeles, last night. He was 41-years-old.
Roger Federer battled his way into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open yesterday, as he dropped the first set to Hungary's Marton Fucsovics before running out a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 winner in Melbourne. Federer will face America's Tennys Sandgren in the last-eight, while Novak Djokovic will take on Milos Raonic after his straight sets win over Diego Sebastian Schwartzman. This morning Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios meet for a place in the quarters.
