O’Connell’s Munster farewell beckons

Paul O’Connell’s glorious Munster career will end in the next eight days — and he will play his final Thomond Park game tomorrow, sources have revealed to the Irish Examiner.

Munster play their Guinness Pro12 semi-final against Ospreys tomorrow in Limerick with the final set for Ravenhill a week later. If Munster beat the Welsh region, the decider would bring down the curtain on O’Connell’s 14th season with his native province.

The Ireland captain’s IRFU contract has another 12 months to run but the 35-year-old second row, named last week as the IRUPA Players’ Player of the Year in a campaign which also saw him named RBS 6 Nations Player of the Championship, has indicated he may retire at the end of the World Cup in October.