Leinster backs coach Girvan Dempsey confirmed yesterday that the province wouldn’t be losing any players to international duty for this Friday’s Guinness Pro12 encounter against the Ospreys in the Liberty Stadium.

Paul O’Connell has “changed beyond belief” in a late-career surge that has earned him his two-year move to French club Toulon, according to Reggie Corrigan.

A ’number of Irish’ are among five killed in a US balcony collapse; Liquidators at Clerys in Dublin have told laid-off workers there are no funds to pay redundancies; and primary education is not free, but would be for an extra €103m a year, says Fergus Finlay. Just some of the latest and most read stories on irishexaminer.com.

Good morning. Here’s a look at the top stories you need to know, in the Irish Examiner’s Morning Report.

Former Irish rugby star Reggie Corrigan has begun an unfair dismissal action against the Leinster branch of the IRFU after his contract as scrum coach was not renewed in 2012.

The suspicion for a long time had been that this was to be Brian O’Driscoll’s swansong yet there he was on Saturday night waxing lyrical about those others set to depart while he himself looks ahead to a fourth Lions tour and one more year of battle.

The suspicion for a long time had been that this was to be Brian O’Driscoll’s swansong yet there he was on Saturday night waxing lyrical about those others set to depart while he himself looks ahead to a fourth Lions tour and one more year of battle.

The decision to relieve Brian O’Driscoll of the Irish armband has been described as disloyal by his former team-mate Reggie Corrigan who believes it could also impair the centre’s chances of leading the Lions for a second time this summer.

ALL eyes may be on Thomond Park and the Aviva Stadium this weekend, but the more discerning Munster and Leinster supporters will also be keeping tabs on proceedings at the RDS this evening.

Having been part of the 2008 squad that lost 33-10 to England in what was Eddie O’Sullivan’s last game in charge, I know how deep the review of Saturday’s defeat will run.

WHEN Shane Williams breached the Australian defence for one last international try deep into added time in his international swansong at the Millennium Stadium recently, you felt that justice had been served. Wingers crave attention.

MANY elements combine to produce the unique chemistry of a Leinster-Munster fixture and one of the more fascinating in recent years has been the head-to-head rivalry between the province’s out-halves.

Leinster coaching staff have expressed their satisfaction with the opening stages of their Route 6’6” initiative, which hopes to attract taller players to the sport.

FROM Temple Hill to the Aviva Stadium. It could be the name for an updated version of Ronan O’Gara’s autobiography but it is actually the dramatic arc which encompasses Brian O’Driscoll’s Leinster career from his debut through to tonight’s get together in Dublin 4.

FORMER rugby stars Keith Wood, Reggie Corrigan and Frankie Sheahan had mixed emotions as they strolled around the new Aviva Stadium at Lansdowne Road in the sunshine yesterday.

The old Lansdowne is gone but sporting chiefs vowed today that it will not be forgotten.

SOME of the world’s best poker players as well as a host of hopeful amateurs gathered at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin for the start of the Paddy Power Irish Open.

TWO of the great names of Irish and English rugby led legends onto the field last night for a major fundraising game for injured players.

SHANE Byrne and Reggie Corrigan’s first memories of John Hayes are oddly similar.

SHANE BYRNE will lead an Ireland Legends rugby team against the England Legends at The Stoop in Twickenham on the eve of Ireland-England Six Nations game.

A HOST of big names will take part in the first ever Stuart Mangan Memorial match between England and Ireland Legends at the Twickenham Stoop on Friday, February 26 – the night before the countries meet in the Six Nations at Twickenham.

IRISH rugby has been dealt a serious blow with the news that Ulster captain and hooker Rory Best will miss the upcoming season.

Legendary Ireland prop Reggie Corrigan has been appointed Leinster’s provincial scrum coach.

SOME Leinster players couldn’t help but glance back at the past, to the long road they had travelled and some of their fellow travellers who never made it to the end.

FOR 10, long dispiriting years, Brian O’Driscoll has toiled in the cause of Leinster.

SINGING the blues never sounded so good.

IT SAYS something about the options available to Michael Cheika behind the scrum that Shane Horgan is no longer an automatic choice in the Leinster jersey he has adorned with such distinction for over a decade.

Well, in defiance of all predictions, in defiance of another invasion by the massive Munster Red Army, it was a blue, blue world in Dublin on Saturday.

In 2001, Munster and Leinster met in the Celtic League final in Lansdowne Road in a match that broke all records for this fledgling competition, with 14-man Leinster upsetting the odds with a thrilling 24-20 win.

IT’S already been a year of firsts for Cian Healy and the Leinster prop is hoping to add to his list of achievements by making his first competitive appearance on French soil tomorrow.

MALCOLM O’KELLY could become Leinster’s most capped player in Saturday’s top-of-the-table Magners League clash with Llanelli Scarlets, (Stradey Park, 5.30pm).

Malcolm O'Kelly should become the most capped player in Leinster history if he wins his 140th cap against the Llanelli Scarlets in the Magners League at Stradey Park on Saturday (KO: 5.30pm).

THERE may still be five rounds to play before this year’s Magners League campaign is put to bed, but Leinster already have one hand gripped firmly around the trophy after events in Dublin and Wales last night.

THE RICHEST sporting event of 2008 in Ireland will play out this weekend. But instead of golf clubs or rugby gear it is more likely to involve stetson-wearing, cigar-chomping, coffee-swigging men and women who pride themselves on never breaking a sweat while “playing”.

INJURIES and international duties will deprive Leinster of seven front-line players at the Sportsground this evening but Michael Cheika has still been able to name a hugely experienced first 15 for the Magners League tie against Connacht (kick-off 7.30).

THERE was a time, not long ago, when Marcus Horan must have wondered why he bothered to pursue a rugby career with Munster.

Former Leinster captain Reggie Corrigan will join Ulster as a one-day-a-week scrummaging coach.

The Leinster squad to face the Leicester Tigers in Saturday's Heineken Cup Pool 6 clash at Welford Road (KO: 3.30pm) has been named.

SHANE HORGAN is poised to equal Reggie Corrigan’s Leinster Heineken Cup record of 61 caps against Toulouse on Sunday.

Shane Horgan is in line to equal Reggie Corrigan's Leinster record 61 appearances in the Heineken Cup away to Toulouse on Sunday.

KEITH GLEESON could join a select band tonight by earning his 100th cap for Leinster in their Magners league tie away to the Cardiff Blues — but he will have to come off the bench to do it.

Gordon D'Arcy has been named the Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Leinster Professional Player of the Year at an awards lunch in the Conrad Hotel Dublin.

Leinster have announced the signings of Argentina prop Juan Francisco Gomez, South African international front-row forward Ollie Le-Roux and Connacht's Irish-qualified tight-head prop Stephen Knoop in their squad for next season.

THERE are a few permutations to juggle with as the chase for the Magners League title takes the bell this weekend, but the bottom line is simple: win with a bonus point in Cardiff tonight and Leinster will be champions.