And so the 2022 Six Nations comes to a close with France the victors and Ireland coming away with plenty of positives. It was a mark of how far the top two teams were ahead of the rest that Ireland finished 11 points clear of third place England over the course of just five matches. This morning, Gerry Thornley writes that "France and Ireland were not only miles ahead of the others, but both are clearly on an upward curve, with more improvement to come. Ultimately, as it felt at the time, that round two collision in Paris was the title decider." Plenty of Irish players saw their stock rise over the last seven weeks with Dan Sheehan one of those. "For a player who made his international debut just last November, Sheehan has seamlessly bedded in, initially as a replacement for the injured Ronan Kelleher and now as the main man in the shirt," writes Johnny Watterson. Meanwhile, the Ireland under-20s ended their campaign on the highest of highs yesterday by seeing off Scotland to complete the Grand Slam. For all of our comprehensive Six Nations coverage you can visit our dedicated site.
Moving to soccer and this morning Ken Early writes in his column that Paris Saint-Germain's owners have turned the club into a sporting Disneyland, with Lionel Messi as Mickey Mouse. The French side saw their Champions League hopes dashed again last week when they collapsed at the hands of Real Madrid and, at the weekend, their fans made their feelings known. "The truth is the PSG fans weren't booing Messi just because his performances have been disappointing. They're booing him because of what he represents: the celebrity-driven system in which the stars are bigger than the club," he writes. Elsewhere, Real Madrid came back down to earth pretty quickly in La Liga last night as Barcelona put four past them to comprehensively win the Clasico. Two goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and one each from Ronald Araújo and Ferran Torres completed the scoring as Xavi rekindled fond memories.
In GAA, Kerry are eyeing a likely Division One football final against either Mayo or Armagh as the final round of league matches loom next weekend with plenty still to play for. Indeed, aside from the three sides mentioned, every other team in the top division could be relegated next Sunday, with the only certainty being that whoever loses in Clones between Monaghan and Dublin is gone. In hurling, Waterford and Kilkenny both advanced to the league semi-finals with the Cats proving too good for their opponents to win by two goals.
In his column this morning, Malachy Clerkin writes that the unfortunate plight of 800 P&O Ferries staff laid off last week has been brought into the world of sport by links with DP World. "It's entirely up to DP World how they run their operations. It would be nice though if sport wasn't so keen to cosy up to the kind of people who summarily fire 800 people by videolink," he writes.
Finally, Shane Lowry secured a tied-12th finish at the Valspar Championship last night to maintain his consistent form with the Masters now just around the corner. Sam Burns successfully defended his title by seeing off Davis Riley in a playoff.
