It was a night to remember once again for Caoimhín Kelleher last night as he saved two shootout penalties for Liverpool to help them see off Leicester and book a place in the Carabao Cup semi-finals. The 23-year-old Irish goalkeeper had been exposed for two of Leicester's three first half goals but set up Takumi Minamino's dramatic late equaliser and then proved to be the hero in the shootout. Afterwards, Jürgen Klopp paid tribute to the Corkman and said he would be happy to cede any home advantage and play in a one-legged semi-final to give his players some rest. Elsewhere, Chelsea saw off Brentford 2-0 while Spurs got the better of West Ham, meaning Antonio Conte will face his former club in the semi-finals.
Moving to GAA and Ciarán Murphy writes in his column this morning that Christmas as always brings around the thoughts of whether to go another year with the GAA or whether to retire. "Plenty of times this year I've asked myself what the hell am I doing. Plenty of mornings spent getting out of bed in instalments, and nights after training in the bath with your epsom salts."
On to rugby and Ulster's Michael Lowry says he is just happy to play anywhere on the pitch after stellar displays at fullback even though many believe his best position would be outhalf. "Having those conversations with coaches I think that is probably the long-term option. Our back three is stacked but unfortunately there have been a lot of injuries at the minute so I'm nearly playing because of injuries but I'll take that opportunity," he says. Meanwhile, UK secretary of state for housing, Michael Gove, has written to Ulster about their Kingspan sponsorship after the company had some of their products used at Grenfell Tower, where 72 people tragically lost their lives in a fire in 2017.
Finally, Dave Hannigan writes this morning that the bombastic LaVar Ball continues to cash in on his son's basketball talents in the US while Kelli O'Keefe writes that sustainable success is needed after a historic year for Irish sportswomen.
With Christmas fast-approaching the Morning Sports Briefing will now be taking a well-earned break until the new year. From all at The Irish Times, Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2022.
