For Andy Farrell it must feel like the build-up to his first match as Ireland head coach has been going on forever. The 44-year-old knew before the Rugby World Cup that he would be taking over the mantle after the tournament but he is still yet to manage a match as the Six Nations opener against Scotland ticks closer and closer. However, there is plenty of optimism around the place ahead of the new reign and an endorsement from Ronan O'Gara will only help. The former Munster man yesterday told John O'Sullivan that he reckons Farrell will do a "great job" at Ireland and says he is a born winner who also has the added bonus of being a dual code international. Speaking of the Rugby World Cup, few Irish players would have been more bitter after the failed campaign that Bundee Aki who got sent off against Samoa and missed the quarter-final against New Zealand. As he told Gerry Thornley in Portugal during the week, the red card is something he will always forget but he's looking forward to getting back to work in this Six Nations campaign.
And what of Scotland? Well the storyline coming into this campaign has been that of Finn Russell's absence for the match in Dublin after he was punished for a late-night drinking session. The outhalf is one of the Scots' greatest threats and John O'Sullivan writes in his stats column this morning that his absence will either leave them severely lacking or potentially galvanise Gregor Townsend's men. Townsend will pick his team for Saturday's match later on today and don't forget you can keep up to date with all of the news, analysis, opinion, features and more from this year's Six Nations on our dedicated website.
Moving on to soccer and last night Manchester City booked their place in the League Cup final despite a 1-0 loss to Manchester United at the Etihad. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men battled hard and will take some heart from now having played their local rivals away from home twice this season with both games ending in United victories, this time thanks to a Nemanja Matic strike. After the final whistle there was some trouble in the stands with home fans making aeroplane gestures towards United supporters as a reference to the Munich air disaster while others ripped up seats and threw them into the away section. Afterwards both managers condemned the violence. In some good news for United it looks like Bruno Fernandes could be in the squad for this Saturday's Premier League clash with Wolves after the Portuguese midfielder agreed a ¤65m deal last night. Elsewhere, in the one Premier League match which took place last night, Liverpool continued their winning run to see off West Ham and reach a total of 70 points, now 19 clear of their nearest pursuers.
In GAA, DCU took home the Sigerson Cup last night with a 0-14 to 0-7 victory over IT Carlow. Managed by Paddy Christie and led superbly on the field by his Ballymun club mates Paddy Small and Evan Comerford, DCU secured arguably their easiest title yet.
Moving to tennis and young American Sofia Kenin stunned home favourite Ashleigh Barty in the Australian Open semi-finals this morning to book her place in the final. She will now face Garbine Muguruza on Saturday after the Spaniard beat Simona Halep just in the last few minutes.
In our women in sport pages this morning Phil Healy tells Mary Hannigan that she has renewed hunger this year as she looks for more personal bests and new records with the Tokyo Olympics on the horizon. Meanwhile, Clíodhna O'Connor writes that there are bigger threats to women's football than the AFLW.
