20 years on...never forget Loughinisland

[brokencrossbar1]

Remember it vividly,took the shine off the victory.Also remember Down beating Monaghan in Armagh next day,in front of a very sombre crowd almost in complete silence.

Hard to think the ceasefires were only a few months away.Remember another atrocity shortly before when loyalists shot an 18 year old catholic schoolboy in an amusement arcade in Armagh city.Desperate times

Yeah that was Gavin McShane, there was another young lad McArdle killed in that attack.  The terrible irony of the tragedy there is that Gavin's mother was caught up in a bomb attack when she was pregnant with him and actually lost her eye.  She survived that only to suffer the horrible murder of her son 18 years later.  Too many tragic memories.

[Nally Stand]

Remember it vividly,took the shine off the victory.Also remember Down beating Monaghan in Armagh next day,in front of a very sombre crowd almost in complete silence.

Hard to think the ceasefires were only a few months away.Remember another atrocity shortly before when loyalists shot an 18 year old catholic schoolboy in an amusement arcade in Armagh city.Desperate times

Yeah that was Gavin McShane, there was another young lad McArdle killed in that attack.  The terrible irony of the tragedy there is that Gavin's mother was caught up in a bomb attack when she was pregnant with him and actually lost her eye.  She survived that only to suffer the horrible murder of her son 18 years later.  Too many tragic memories.

The Step Inn bomb. An interesting piece on this in Lethal Allies outlining how the RUC had intelligence reports weeks before that this bomb was being planned at the home of an RUC reservist, with the intention of being sent to Castleblaney before a change of plan directed it to the Step Inn. Despite the RUC Special Branch knowing the names of most, if not all of the bombers (as a result of intelligence and surveillance in the weeks leading up to and after the bomb, but surveillance conveniently lifted while the bomb was being transported), the RUC told the DPP that they had no suspects and to this day, nobody has been charged. This bomb came just months after the bombings of Kay's Tavern in Dundalk and Donnelly's Bar in South Armagh, both of which were carried out with the involvement of serving RUC officers. Another gun and  bomb two months before the one at the Step Inn, took place at the Rock Bar. This  shooting/bombing was carried out exclusively by (four) serving RUC officers. One of these was RUC constable Ian Mitchell. This same man, two months after attacking the Rock Bar, was taking a witness statement from the father of one of Step Inn victims. Obscene.

[DownFanatic]

I was a very young lad at that Down game the day after the Loughinisland killings. I just remember the atmosphere at the game being very subdued. Most people at the match were standing in huddles discussing the previous nights events. It was a strange experience. Would I be right in saying that Loughinisland's Gary Mason played that day?

[charlieTully]

my mothers home parish is Loughinisand, one of her cousins was murdered that night, Frosty Rogan. My aunt lived in oz for a few years and married a guy from New Zealand, they moved back home in the early 90s and her husband got a job working with Frosty and they became close mates, what a welcome to the north, having a mate murdered by the uvf.

[Aristo 60]

I was a very young lad at that Down game the day after the Loughinisland killings. I just remember the atmosphere at the game being very subdued. Most people at the match were standing in huddles discussing the previous nights events. It was a strange experience. Would I be right in saying that Loughinisland's Gary Mason played that day?

Yeah and I think he kicked a few frees too. You are right it was very obviously subdued and from what I remember theren't wasn't a big crowd on the then large gravel banks in the Athletic Grounds.

The other thing I remember was the very overcast weather - the gloom and haze of the sky fitted the mood of the day all too perfectly.

[clootfromthe21]

I was a very young lad at that Down game the day after the Loughinisland killings. I just remember the atmosphere at the game being very subdued. Most people at the match were standing in huddles discussing the previous nights events. It was a strange experience. Would I be right in saying that Loughinisland's Gary Mason played that day?

Yeah and I think he kicked a few frees too. You are right it was very obviously subdued and from what I remember theren't wasn't a big crowd on the then large gravel banks in the Athletic Grounds.

The other thing I remember was the very overcast weather - the gloom and haze of the sky fitted the mood of the day all too perfectly.

My memory of the Athletic Grounds that day was clearly hearing the calls of the players across the field to each other as the crowd watched the game almost in total silence.

[T Fearon]

Desperate times indeed.About a week later I was driving past Daveys (just over the border on Newry Omeath Road) another World Cup game was on and there were two armed Gardai standing outside the front door of the pub,obviously on guard

[BarryBreensBandage]

Desperate times indeed.About a week later I was driving past Daveys (just over the border on Newry Omeath Road) another World Cup game was on and there were two armed Gardai standing outside the front door of the pub,obviously on guard

I appreciate that post because it serves as a reminder of the insane life that living in NI was then. The barricades, constant checkpoints, the black wreaths being sent to establishments during another spate of tit-for-tat killings, roads closed, things that are forgotten now. I can still see the hut that everyone had to go through when travelling to Belfast International Airport, the queue of traffic, and why did it always seem to be raining back then?
That is why, when in the company of family/friends talking about the childhood they had and that their parents never did x, y and z with them, I always point out the situation that this country was in. Our parents were worried about keeping us alive, never mind visiting France or even the new McDonalds in Belfast. It was madness, spelt out all too tragically in Loughinisland that night. A dismally new low, regardless of which side it happened to.
Never Forget.

[T Fearon]

The tragedy was that we thought that life was normal

[ziggysego]

The tragedy was that we thought that life was normal

That's the sad truth. Looking back to my childhood in the 80s, it was perfectly normal to see helicopters landing outside your house and seeing British soldiers hiding in ditches, with a gun pointed in your direction.

Madness looking back now.

[BarryBreensBandage]

The tragedy was that we thought that life was normal

You are so right. I still drive past the Ardmore Police Station in Newry, and am subconsciously expecting a queue of traffic/checkpoint - strange feeling.

[Gaffer]

And the circling red light at night time and you wondered as you approached it in your car was  it the police or the UDR!

[brokencrossbar1]

And the circling red light at night time and you wondered as you approached it in your car was  it the police or the UDR!

Or the Paras on the last few weeks of a Tour,  bastards

[THE MIGHTY QUINN]

Or worse again the Marines a few hours after an attack on Cross barracks

[glens abu]

And the circling red light at night time and you wondered as you approached it in your car was  it the police or the UDR!

Or the Paras on the last few weeks of a Tour,  b**tards

Yeah and the Scottish regiments were the same bastards before their tour of duty ended