EVEREST IS NOT PATCH ON DUBLIN

KERRY have called in legendary Irish mountaineer and explorer Pat Falvey as they aim to get back to the summit of Gaelic football.

Falvey (below), a high-altitude mountaineer, polar explorer, author and motivational speaker, will be named tonight at the February Kerry County Committee virtual meeting as football Performance Coach with the Kerry senior football squad.

While the addition of the Cork native might surprise Kerry supporters, Falvey is much respected in his field and he has already spoken to the players over the past three weeks and the feedback has been positive. Falvey, now residing in Beaufort close to where Kingdom boss Peter Keane lives, was the first person to complete the Seven Summits twice by reaching the summit of Mount Everest from both the Tibetan (1996) and Nepalese sides (2003).

OWEN MACINTYRE

ULSTER face an anxious wait to see if star back row Marcell Coetzee will be fit to play a part in the rest of their season after suffering a knee injury in Friday’s win in Glasgow.

The Springbok has already announced he will return home to

South Africa after the conclusion of Ulster’s season in a few weeks’ time.

But he could well have played his last game for the province if the injury proves to be serious.

The 29-year-old No.8 (right) confirmed his switch to the Bulls before Christmas but, after spending four seasons with Ulster, coach Dan Mcfarland (inset) is waiting for some positive news today when Coetzee is assessed by medical professionals. “We won’t know how serious that is until we get a good look at it,” said Mcfarland of Coetzee, who has been plagued by knee injuries in recent seasons.

Tries from Michael Lowry, Craig Gilroy and Nick Timoney gave Ulster the four points at Scotstoun but the gap to Conference A leaders Leinster increased five after the Blues got a bonus point win at Dragons.

“The bottom line is we’ve just got to keep winning,” admitted Mcfarland.

P W D L F A Pts Man City 25 18 5 2 50 15 59 Man Utd 25 14 7 4 53 32 49 Leicester 25 15 4 6 44 27 49 West Ham 25 13 6 6 39 29 45 Chelsea 25 12 7 6 41 25 43 Liverpool 25 11 7 7 45 34 40 Everton 24 12 4 8 37 33 40 Aston Villa 23 11 3 9 37 26 36 Tottenham 24 10 6 8 37 27 36 Arsenal 25 10 4 11 31 26 34 Wolves 25 9 6 10 26 32 33 Leeds 24 10 2 12 40 43 32 Southampton 24 8 6 10 31 40 30 Crystal Pal 24 8 5 11 27 42 29 Burnley 25 7 7 11 18 30 28 Brighton 24 5 11 8 25 30 26 Newcastle 25 7 4 14 26 43 25 Fulham 25 4 10 11 21 32 22 West Brom 25 2 8 15 19 55 14 Sheff Utd 25 3 2 20 15 41 11

did a little bit on our pressing and the second half was so good. We are delighted for the points.”

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta (above) admitted the Europa League has become even more important after suffering their 11th league defeat of the season.

Arteta, whose side are 11 points off the top-four face Benfica in the second leg on Thursday, said: “The Europa League has always been important but every defeat makes it even more important for us.”

He made a concussion substitution, taking off Rob Holding after he was hit in the head as Joao Cancelo ran past him and fears the centre-half will now miss games.