The jury in the trial of the Sligo man accused of murdering 14 year-old Melissa Mahon has heard that she took a pregnancy test which was positive before she went missing.

The Labour Party is gathering in Wexford today for the starts of its annual delegate conference.

THE devil is in the detail. Ask Croke Park operations manager Alan Gallagher. Just as staff in Jones Road put one little issue to bed, another pops up.

The draw has been made for the 2006 O'Neills Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland Football Sevens tournament.

Having hosted the All-Ireland Hurling Sevens last weekend, Dublin club Kilmacud Crokes are already gearing up for Saturday week's football equivalent.

KERRY and Tyrone will be strongly represented at this year’s Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland football sevens in Dublin on Saturday week.

KILDARE referee Mick Monaghan, whose appointment as the referee for the Kerry-Tyrone Bank of Ireland football championship final on September 25 was announced yesterday, admitted that the news had come out of the blue for him.

THREE Kerry men will manage the Munster senior football side for the Martin Donnelly-sponsored interprovincial series at the end of the month.

GAA President Sean Kelly has called for a more disciplined approach from club teams as county championships reach their conclusion all over the country - with up to 14 finals down for decision this weekend.

Jim O’Sullivan

IN their quieter moments, before they engage each other in this afternoon's AIB All-Ireland club football final (3.40pm), An Ghaeltacht and Caltra will have reflected on their good fortune to be in Croke Park for one of the biggest days in the GAA calendar.

CROKE PARK is for the little guy on Paddy’s Day. That is what the club final is all about — the four captains who converged in Ballsbridge yesterday for the AIB Club final press conference were compelling evidence of this.

THE enduring attraction of the AIB Club championship is that it thrusts small parish teams into the limelight like no other competition in the GAA.

SEMPLE Stadium in Thurles is the probable venue for next months’s AIB All-Ireland club semi-finals involving the Munster and Leinster champions.

Caltra 3-11 Killererin 0-5

JOHN O’MAHONY could be forgiven for gloating, except that it would be totally alien to his nature!