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10 years ago news started to break of one of the worst attrocities of "the troubles". 31 lives lost needlessly. Maybe we could all take a little time to remember them.

Is it just me or are is Gaelic Football becoming an unwatchable game?  Wether it be games  played in half full stadia, negative defensive football  that would make Pat Spillanes mother puke  or the poor standard of refereeing, but it looks like the people of Ireland are voting with their already empty wallets and staying away from games.
Does the GAA have a marketing department?  With Croke Park less than half full twice over  the weekend, it does not look like it. It seems Westlife and Celine Dion are bigger draws than the reigning All Ireland champions and 11 other counties combined.  How can we expect to fill Croke Park when most of the country are enjoying our holidays, with the so called credit crunch in full swing (in my day it was known as a recession) surely the GAA should be putting some serious effort into getting bums on seats, or are the TV deals worth more than you or I travelling to Croker??? Have we reached the point where we actually have too many games on TV?
For  me the biggest turn off, for want of a better phrase, is the standard of play. The win at all costs ideology started by Armagh and Tyrone at the start of this decade is now almost nationwide. Fermanagh are now the biggest  offenders, being the most unwatchable team in Ireland. 10 wides in the first half today and only 2 scores their first after almost 30 minutes of play. Their crowded defence and quick breaking game has been easily beaten by teams that can actually shoot. I never thought I would say this but I was glad Armagh beat them last week, in fact if anything they were worse last week. Armagh may be cynical and the aim of their game is to stop the opposition playing, but at least they have Clarke and McDonnell, probably the best forward partnership in the country.  Monaghan today tried to bully Kerry, but Kerry stood firm enough and were quite deserving winners even though they never really got going.
As a Down man I maybe am in no position to talk about standards after yesterday game, we still haven`t cottoned on to the fact that defences win games in modern football, but for the first time in my life I could honestly say I don`t care who wins this years All Ireland. I have lost interest. There will be two empty seats in Croke Park come September. I won`t be using them. If I want to watch a game of turnovers, defensive tactics and kicking the ball into touch I will watch rugby league. Being honest Leeds Rhinos or Bradford Bulls would probably win this years All Ireland, their kicking would be an improvement over most of the teams and their work rate and tackling would be almost up to scratch. In fact I don't think they have scrums in rugby league, but from the look of todays Gaelic football we seem to have adopted the ruck and maul. For me it is simply unwatchable. Maybe Kerry v Dublin would be tempting as a spectacle, but I doubt any of the others will hold any interest for the neutrals.
And then we have the referees, the Gaelic Football referee most be the most inconsistent type of person in the world, they make our politicians seem competent. Players are conning them, physical contact against a forward seems to have been banned. Yellow cards are being shown for minimal and sometimes non existent challenges. One of the Down defenders was shown a yellow card yesterday because a Wexford player fell and made contact with the Down man on the way to the ground, the result was  a Wexford point from 30 yards. Today Freeman beat the Kerry defender and when it would have been easy to punch the ball over the bar he went down and took his man down with him and yet again the result was a scoreable free. There are countless examples were players are buying frees, minimal contact and they are on the ground, writhing in agony until the resulting free has been scored or in Fermanaghs case knocked into row z. Maybe its the modern day players lack of scoring ability that makes them act like this or maybe its the win at all costs attitude thats causing such a blight on our games, but something needs to be done. 

A Limerick man is now feared to have died on the descent from the world's second highest mountain, K2.

37-year-old Gerard McDonell is among a group of up to ten climbers still missing after their expedition was hit by falling ice near the summit.

Rescuers fear at least nine are dead.

Rescue efforts on the ground high up the mountain have now been abandoned, although helicopter sweeps of the area are continuing.

Mr McDonnell, from Kilcornan in Limerick, was descending K2 when the group he was travelling with was cut off 8,000 from the base of the Himalayan mountain, which is on the border between China and Pakistan.

Last Friday, he became the first Irish climber to reach the summit following an eight-week expedition.

Would have prefered a home draw, but it could have been worse.

The draw could have been much worse, we should be happy enough with Offaly just hope we pack our shooting boots for the journey south.

Any word on a team for Sunday yet or will Ross wait until after Saturdays U21 final before naming his side?