Music takes you somewhere else. It has a quality that elevates you to a higher plane.

A Limerick man whose conviction for murder was quashed following a successful appeal will be sentenced for manslaughter next week at the Central Criminal Court.

Things went all kinds of wrong on Ocean FM’s Francie Boylan Show over the weekend as Francie tried to prank one of his fellow presenters.

Tyrone officials last night declined to comment on the allegations by Donegal minor football manager Declan Bonner that two of their players mocked Donegal captain Micheál Carroll about his father Francie’s death during Sunday’s Ulster clash in Donegal.

A man on trial for biting part of his cousin’s ear off said he never assaulted the relative and claimed yesterday that the complainant had asked his father for €20,000 to drop the case.

A man went on trial yesterday for allegedly biting part of his first cousin’s ear off and spitting it into his face.

A retired couple have been found dead from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning at a caravan park in the North.

Damn you, internet! Sometimes I don’t know whether what you’re giving me is real or whether it’s being dreamed up by two stoned teenagers chained to a PC in someone’s basement, wondering whether to get the Domino’s deep-dish spectacular or not...

A tiny village came to a standstill yesterday to say a loving farewell to a woman who helped put it on the map.

Daniel O'Donnell's mother Julia has passed away at the age of 94.

Singer Daniel O’Donnell was at his mother’s bedside in hospital last night.

Jeremy Clarkson is "miserable" over the alleged breakdown of his marriage.

Galway hurling star Damien Hayes has opened up on his close friend Niall Donoghue’s sudden death, admitting there were absolutely no warning signs.

A heartbroken community yesterday heard that people with issues need to speak out and let others know that they are experiencing difficulties.

The Donegal County Board have confirmed manager Jim McGuinness’s intention “to make changes” to his backroom team — a move that saw assistant manager Rory Gallagher and two other members leave the set-up.

A statement from the Donegal County Board has indicated that it was Jim McGuinness' decision to remove three members of his backroom team - Rory Gallagher, Maxi Curran and Francie Friel - ahead of the 2014 season.

A little over a week after the 2005 All-Ireland football final, this writer received an email from a fairly irate Kerry supporter.

A retired Kerry farmer has become an unlikely celebrity following his appearance on a German television programme on the controversy stirred by Danny Healy-Rae’s call for a relaxation of drink-driving laws for rural people.

Driving home from work on Friday evening, I decided to call into my mechanic and GAA counsellor, Francie John O’Kane.

New Donegal senior football champions St Eunan’s of Letterkenny paid an emotional farewell to a much-loved club member who died at the weekend.

A big thank-you again to Mark Fletcher, Ger, Francie and the Roscrea mafia who kept our appointment in Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday.

Heroic Championship displays aren’t all about getting off to a good start; often they’re about getting over a bad one

SATURDAY

The family of a man who was murdered and later found on the banks of the River Shannon, have described how they were plunged “into a nightmare situation”.

ANYONE who loved playing football but was forced to stop due to old age and creaking limbs will have understood precisely what the 34-year-old Ronaldo experienced before his retirement.

CROSSMAGLEN veteran Oisín McConville has made a thinly-veiled swipe at the club’s management last season, insisting current bosses Tony McEntee and Gareth O’Neill have brought back a more professional ethic into the senior panel.

BALL tucked tightly under his arm, Francie Bellew made his way into the Crossmaglen dressing room in Breffni Park yesterday with the broadest of smiles.

NEWS from across the water yesterday is that one of the biggest entries for many years will go into the draw on Sunday for the first round of the Williamhill.com English Derby and among them there will be one of the biggest ever Irish raiding teams.

WHAT must be going through the mind of Barry Gilleran this week?

SEÁN CAVANAGH described it as “the million dollar question” — and he wasn’t talking about Tyrone’s prospects of retaining their All-Ireland football title in September.

FRANCIE BELLEW may have played his last game for Armagh.

PATRONS of the Southill shebeen gathered last night to celebrate what locals described as the “Mickey Mouse” fine handed down after a judge ruled it was an illegal drinking premises.

A special mass is being held in the North this morning in memory of a musician who was shot dead by loyalists.

AN outdated law on shebeens, means that Anthony Kelly will face a fine of just £50 old pounds if he is convicted of a breach of the intoxicating liquor act in running a shebeen at Southill.

BILLY WALSH will find himself fighting for an Irish title after just a handful of professional bouts when he takes on the experienced James Gorman for the vacant light welterweight title at Neptune Stadium in Cork on January 26.

A priest at the funeral of two teenagers drowned in a boating accident pleaded to other young people today not to sacrifice their own lives.

OBITUARY writers can still their pens a while longer.

ARMAGH manager Joe Kernan was non-committal about his and some of his players’ future involvement with the county after Saturday’s defeat to Kerry in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final.

BERNARD DUNNE faces the toughest challenge of his boxing career against Ukranian southpaw, Yuri Voronin, at the National Stadium on May 14.

Sinn Féin was today deciding who its Northern Ireland candidate will be for next year’s European Parliament elections.