Sport

The Morning Sports Briefing

Liverpool see of Stoke but injuries mount, Emlyn Mulligan on life outside of ‘football’s bubble’, the Rugby World Cup was the biggest sporting event of 2015 and what to watch out for

Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho is embraced by manager Jurgen Klopp as he leaves the field with an injury during the Capital One Cup, semi final, first leg match at The Britannia Stadium, Stoke. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
Wed Jan 06 2016 - 08:31

Soccer

Liverpool put one foot into the League Cup final last night as they beat Stoke 1-0 at the Britannia Stadium in their semi-final first leg tie - but the win did not come without a cost to Jurgen Klopp's team.

The Merseyside club had to contend with first half hamstring injuries picked up by both talisman Philippe Coutinho and in-form defender Dejan Lovren, adding to their already growing injury list. While veteran centre back Kolo Toure was forced to play through the pain barrier for the final few minutes, having himself picked up a hamstring injury, as Liverpool looked to hold out their lead with no substitutes remaining.

That lead came about through a Jordon Ibe strike reacting quickest to a scuffed Joe Allen shot.

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Tonight Everton face Manchester City in the other semi-final, with the possibility of an all-Merseyside final still very much alive.

Rugby

It's been revealed that the Rugby World Cup was the biggest sporting event of 2015 and such was reflected in Irish viewing figures.

The top three positions are filled by matches involving the Irish rugby team at last year’s tournament, the only match not to make it was Ireland’s first match of the competition against Canada. The most watched match of 2015 was Ireland’s victory over France, an average of 1.2 million people tuned in to watch the game unfold, making it the most watched programme in TV3’s 17-year history.

Ulster head coach Neil Doak has indicated that the province will look to rotate their squad for Sunday's crunch European Champions Cup game away to Oyonnax. With the likes of Ruan Pienaar and Paddy Jackson likely to get a rest, while Andrew Trimble, Stuart McCloskey and Luke Marshall are all also likely to be rested in the coming weeks.

GAA

Meanwhile Malachy Clerkin has an excellent piece this morning with returning Leitrim footballer Emlyn Mulligan, back from a year out of the game travelling abroad, he now has a fresh perspective on life outside of "football's bubble".

What to watch out for

Everton welcome Manchester City to Goodison Park for tonight's second League Cup semi-final. Kick-off at 8pm.

Sky Sports 1 from 7.30pm

Dublin's O'Byrne Cup game against Carlow IT has been moved back to Russell Park, Blanchardstown, St Brigid's GAA club's home ground at 7.30pm.