MUNSTER chiefs are confident that Lions pair Paul O’Connell and Keith Earls will be fit for Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final with Northampton Saints.

MUNSTER will pick from close to a full deck for Friday night’s Magners League clash with Leinster at Thomond Park.

THE answer to the above question that has dominated Irish rugby for the past 10 weeks will be provided at 1.30 this afternoon when Declan Kidney announces his Ireland team to play Italy in the RBS Six Nations Championship at Croke Park on Saturday.

MUNSTER have opted to give John Hayes another week off and he will sit out Sunday’s Magners League game against the Scarlets at Musgrave Park. Meanwhile, they are keeping their fingers crossed that Marcus Horan will take a full part in Shannon’s AIB League game against St Mary’s College on Saturday.

AS DRESS rehearsals go, this was up there with the best. Ireland’s display against the inexperienced but gritty Fijians left coach Declan Kidney smiling despite the selection headaches he faces ahead of Saturday’s date with world champions South Africa.

ON his 100th Test appearance it was fitting that Brian O’Driscoll should produce a late, late try under the posts for Ireland to secure a share the honours against Australia at Croke Park yesterday.

ONE hundred Heineken Cup games later, yesterday’s quarter-final victory over the Ospreys at Thomond Park was an historic occasion for European champions Munster.

MUNSTER supporters needn’t worry. As the province trained at the University of Limerick yesterday afternoon for Sunday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against the Ospreys, Ronan O’Gara, Paul O’Connell and Doug Howlett were missing, but the trio were subsequently included in the 26-man squad.

MUNSTER coach TonyMcGahan wasn’t in the mood to bask in the glory of this Magners League derby victory at Thomond Park on Saturday night.

WHEN a player of Brian O’Driscoll’s renown and stature admits that “this was one of the more physical Test matches I’ve played in a long, long time,” the point is well made.

RONAN O’GARA has been omitted from the Munster squad for tomorrow night’s top-of-the-table Magners League game against the Ospreys as a precautionary measure.

IN the context of what might havebeen, victory was most welcome at Croke Park on Saturday. However that won’t diminish coach Declan Kidney’s food for thought in the weeks leading up to the Six Nations Championship.

ALAN QUINLAN is back in the Munster squad for Saturday’s Magners League clash with Cardiff Blues at Musgrave Park (7.30pm).

CROMANE’s Donncha Walsh makes his championship debut for Kerry in Sunday’s Munster SFC final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, one of four changes for the All-Ireland champions from the side that eased past Clare in the provincial semi final.

The latest round of the Irish Junior Rally Championship incorporated in today’s Cork Mini Stage Rally at Donoughmore, resulted in a narrow victory for Cork pair, Damien McCarthy/Eamonn Hayes (Honda Civic), who finished just 1.9 seconds ahead of Peter Wilson/John Kilmurray, also in a Honda Civic.

Canovee 1-10 Delanys 0-3

ANTHONY FOLEY makes his 201st competitive and final appearance for Munster on home soil in tomorrow’s Magners League clash against Glasgow, (Musgrave Park, 5pm).

IRISH internationals David Wallace and Denis Leamy are named in the Munster squad for tomorrow night’s Magners League clash away to Connacht, (Sportsgrounds, 7.30pm).

PAUL O’CONNELL, Alan Quinlan, Tony Buckley and Peter Stringer return to strengthen Munster’s Magners League challenge this weekend, but the search for Ronan O’Gara’s back-up seems set to continue after Jeremy Manning’s announcement that he is to return to New Zealand at the end of the season.

January 18, 2003. Pool Two: Munster 33 Gloucester 6

IT won’t have pleased Munster that they finished third of the four Irish teams in the Magners League, but there were some positives to take from Saturday’s comprehensive win over bogey side Glasgow Warriors.

DENIS HURLEY makes his home Magners League debut for Munster against Glasgow Warriors at Musgrave Park this evening (5.30pm).

Na Piarsaigh 1-11 St Catherine’s 0-5

EDINBURGH are boosted by the return of veteran Scott Murray and Munster by Paul O’Connell for the Magners League game at Murrayfield tonight.

MUNSTER coach Declan Kidney has named a squad of 28 in advance of Sunday’s historic Heineken Cup clash with Bourgoin in Geneva.

“YOU don’t beat Munster twice in the same season,” has long been a mantra of the European champions and it’s one that will be put to a severe test at Thomond Park this afternoon (3pm, Setanta Sports) when Leinster make their first visit in nine years to the famous Limerick venue for an eagerly-awaited Magners League tie.

HOURS after creating a new Heineken Cup record of 12 successive victories, Munster were publicly acclaimed as the top sporting team of 2006.

Munster 41 Bourgoin 23

MUNSTER hope to head to Welford Road for their first defence of the Heineken Cup with a clean bill of health.

BARRY MURPHY, a revelation for Munster last year, is ready to return to Heineken Cup action.

CHRISTIAN CULLEN and Anthony Horgan are definitely ruled out of the early games in Munster’s Heineken Cup campaign, but medical bulletins indicate both should be back in a month.

THE big boys are back for Leinster and Munster — most of them at least.

CHRISTIAN CULLEN may yet manage to see out his extended contract with Munster.

IS it the end of the road in Munster for New Zealand legend Christian Cullen?

MUNSTER will be without Irish hooker Frankie Sheahan yet again when they take on Ulster in the Magners League at Musgrave Park tonight (7.30pm).

THANKS to an almost perfect strike rate from Timmy McCarthy, Castlelyons will continue to play in the Cork SHC next year while condemning Delanys to the intermediate division after this relegation play-off at Midleton on Saturday.

St Catherine’s 2-14 Duhallow 0-9

CHRISTIAN CULLEN, ruled out for the Heineken Cup final, may have his contract renewed for another season.

AT half-time in this Evening Echo Cork Co SHC first round contest at splendid Fermoy on Saturday, the St. Finbarr’s selectors were seething. And with every justification.

CHRISTIAN CULLEN will be the focus of attention again tonight when he lines out at centre for Munster in the Celtic League clash with Neath/Swansea Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.

ALAN QUINLAN could return to bolster Munster’s Celtic League bid, a month ahead of his expected return from injury.

Munster 36 Edinburgh 15

CHRISTIAN CULLEN’S injury jinx has struck again and he is out of Munster’s squad for tonight’s Celtic League clash with Gwent Dragons at Rodney Parade (7.10pm).