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Ireland blitz France; Luck will not always be on Solskjær’s side

Morning Sports Briefing: Keep ahead of the game with ‘The Irish Times’ sports team

Ireland were bonus point winners over France on Sunday afternoon at the Aviva Stadium. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Mon Mar 11 2019 - 07:42

Ireland's Six Nations campaign finally kicked into gear yesterday, as Joe Schmidt's team enjoyed a bonus point victory against France in Dublin. They go to the Principality Stadium next Saturday to face Grand Slam seeking Wales on the back of their record 13-game winning run still in the mix for the Championship and feeling better about themselves. Liam Toland explains this morning though, that several key questions remain ahead of that Wales showdown.

A brace apiece from Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané gave Liverpool a 4-2 win over Burnley yesterday, as they overcame the elements at Anfield to move back within a point of tabletoppers Manchester City. Meanwhile Manchester United got a bit of a reality check against Arsenal - the London club's 2-0 win moves them back into fourth spot. In his column this morning, Ken Early explains that despite his dazzling start, luck will not always be on Ole Gunnar Solskjær's side. The big story of the weekend however came from the Championship, where Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish recovered from being punched by a pitch invader to score the derby winner at Birmingham.

In Sunday's GAA action, Carlow came from 11 points down to beat Offaly in the Division One relegation playoff. Westmeath's win over Kerry means they will replace the Faithful county in the newly formatted top flight in 2020. Tipperary put on an exhibition against Cork, Wexford beat Kilkenny in terrible weather conditions, and Waterford scored a late goal to beat Galway. Those results throw up some tasty quarter-finals, and pointless playoffs, next weekend. Read here about who plays who, and why that Division 1A playoff mightn't be so pointless after all.

Rory McIlroy endured a mediocre final round to finish equal sixth in his title defence at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida on Sunday. Francesco Molinari breezed to victory with a closing eight-under-par 64. Yet again, being positioned in the final pairing in the final round of a tournament failed to provide the desired result for the Northern Irishman.

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Meanwhile, with the Cheltenham festival getting underway tomorrow, Malachy Clerkin has come up with 28 reasons to be cheerful at Cheltenham, and none of them anything to do with having a bet.

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