Niall will lead a team that includes his younger brother Rory and their cousin, Jack O'Sullivan.

Munster will have its largest representation for any Irish panel in many years next week when eight players travel with the U18 squad to Lilleshall for a series with England.

Wednesday sees the start of Week 4 of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Wellington, Florida, while a second fixture in the same area at Deeridge Farms also gets underway.

With serious show jumping team action still some time away in 2020, there are no early season pointers to go on seven months out from the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Stephen Findlater Hockey

Eventually, Ballincollig found a way to overcome the fearsome challenge of 13-man Courcey Rovers in the second round of the Cork Premier IHC in Brinny on Saturday afternoon.

The Irish show jumping team will be vying with nine other nations for an Olympic place when they head to the European Championships in Rotterdam next month.

Meath’s Cian O’Connor has recorded Ireland’s second win of the week at the World Equestrian Festival in Germany.

This weekend Ireland’s show jumping team face their second of four Nations Cup qualifiers when they travel to the Baltic venue of Sopot for the Nations Cup of Poland.

Ireland’s show jumping team manager Rodrigo Pessoa brings a five-member squad to Rome for this week’s Italian Nations Cup, but will not face the same pressure he experienced last week in France.

Irish showjumper Darragh Kenny has claimed a place on the podium at today’s €200,000 five-star Longines Grand Prix at La Baule in France.

Friday sees the first of Ireland’s competitive show jumping team fixtures this year as manager Rodrigo Pessoa brings a strong squad to La Baule for the French Nations Cup.

Shane Breen will be hoping for a repeat of his form a fortnight ago when lining out in Shanghai this week for the latest round of the Global Champions League.

A Shane Aherne point in the 81st minute handed victory to Fermoy in this see-saw Cork PIHC first-round contest.

Johann van Graan is confident Darren Sweetnam has what it takes to fill the breach left by an injury to Keith Earls ahead of a European semi-final with Saracens that Peter O’Mahony believes will be Munster’s biggest challenge of the last three years.

Milestones and long-awaited comebacks feature aplenty in the Saracens team picked by Mark McCall, who makes 10 changes from the side which lost at Bristol Bears last week.

Johann van Graan is confident Darren Sweetnam has what it takes to fill the breach left by an injury to Keith Earls ahead of a European semi-final with Saracens that Peter O’Mahony believes will be Munster’s biggest challenge of the last three years.

It’s hard to believe it’s seven years since Darren Sweetnam made his senior hurling championship debut for Cork as a 19-year old, but his sole focus now is trying to end Munster’s barren spell without silverware.

Three Academy players are included in the squad.

Munster kept the pressure on Guinness PRO14 conference leaders Glasgow Warriors as they racked up a bonus-point victory over play-off rivals Cardiff Blues in Cork last night.

Two tries from Keith Earls and a brilliant defensive effort kept Edinburgh at bay and helped Munster book a place in the Heineken Champions Cup semi-finals in a close-fought tussle at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Munster have been forced into a late change ahead of their Champions Cup quarter-final against Edinburgh.

Johann van Graan’s glass remained half-full as he argued Munster are still very much in Guinness PRO14 title contention despite defeat to the Scarlets in Llanelli.

Munster head coach Johann van Graan reserved special praise for his young players and the experience of scrum-half Alby Mathewson after his team survived a big scare in Newport.

The year is getting off to a familiar start for Irish riders based in the US as the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) commences in Wellington, Florida today and continues for three months.

Ireland’s Bertram Allen makes his first FEI World Cup appearance of the 2018/2019 season in what is the third round of the series in Verona, Italy this weekend.

Johann van Graan praised Keith Earls’s selflessness in putting his side first after ruling himself out of Munster’s European clash at Exeter just before kick-off.

Munster racked up seven tries as they dominated much-changed Ospreys in a comfortable 49-13 PRO14 win in Cork.

Munster 38 Cheetahs 0

Munster hit the new ground running last night as they won their opening pre-season game on Musgrave Park’s freshly installed playing surface to defeat Declan Kidney’s London Irish.

Rodrigo Pessoa must have been inspired when picking the Irish riders for today’s Aga Khan nations cup competition as they claimed the top three places in yesterday’s Stablelab Stakes at the Stena Line Dublin Horse and almost nabbed the fourth spot as well.

“All in all everyone is happy and it’s onwards and upwards from here,” said Irish rider Shane Breen after Sunday’s nations cup league opener in Samorin, Slovakia.

Munster are concentrating on their PRO14 clash with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Friday night, although head coach Johann van Graan admits they are doing research on their Champions Cup semi-final opponents in the background.

Opportunity knocks on Sunday as the men’s and women’s Munster Senior Cup finals take place at Garryduff with the potential for new names to claim the trophy.

No wonder Johann van Graan looked downbeat.

The sight of Keith Earls hunting down Italy full-back Matteo Minozzi in the final minutes of a game already done and dusted has had everyone purring, and Darren Sweetnam has thrown in his praise, calling his Munster team-mate’s skills, pace and commitment “outrageous”.

A “bit of a fantasist” was sentenced to eight weeks for wandering into a house late at night and taking random things. He claimed he had an open invitation.

The recent cold snap afflicting the US has lifted just in time for the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) which begins today at Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, Florida. 

Keith Earls has understood for a while that becoming a family man has helped to relegate rugby down the pecking order of priorities. 

Last weekend’s RTÉ Team Of The Year accolade for Ireland’s show jumpers may have crowned a memorable 2017 for equestrian sport in this country, but we’re not quite done for the year yet.

Leinster are the team to beat, the No. 1 in Europe’s power rankings. And Munster are No. 2, writes Ronan O’Gara.