Having already lost five players due to defection, Offaly manager John McIntyre's options for Saturday's All-Ireland qualifier with Clare have been further depleted.

FIVE former members of the Offaly hurling squad have angrily refuted claims by manager John McIntyre that they were axed from the panel for failing to attend training on Tuesday in Tullamore.

Four students from the Pontifical Irish College in Rome are to be ordained to the Catholic priesthood this year, it was confirmed today.

POPE John Paul II, laid out in the splendid red reserved for papal mourning, showed the signs of suffering on his pale, serene face.