OTB - Omagh Bombing - Omagh GAA

[Dinny Breen]

https://youtu.be/TAI4viKGswc?t=2676

Really good work by Shane Stapleton this, not an easy listen but none the less compelling as Niall McSorley, Paddy Quinn & Karl Logue talk about that fateful day.

OTB are certainly pushing the boundaries of sports broadcasting in this country.

[blewuporstuffed]

Powerful stuff.

A day i'll never forget.
The crazy thought Niall McSorley had of worrying about being able to play in a game of football struck a chord with me.
I had a minor match that night and  my first thoughts were, as a naive 16 year old, 'thank God Im ok, I can play tonight.'
Its only afterwards you realise the gravity of what happened

[The Trap]

Stopped me in my tracks today watching that and reliving it again. 3 good GAA men telling their stories. Sad and inspirational at the same time.

[omagh_gael]

Thanks for sharing that Dinny, probably would have missed it. At work here and had planned to put it off until later on, however, when I clicked on the link I couldn't stop it.

By God that brings back some memories. I'll never forget being outside my house with my 2 year old brother at the time hearing the bomb going off, feeling the ground shake and seeing the smoke rising. The world for so many changed forever that day.

Being born in Omagh in 1984 and growing up there we were very fortunate up to the bombing that we'd lived relatively sheltered from the troubles as a whole. I have no memories of any terrorist activity from the early 90s up to 1998 so the surreal experience of hearing, seeing and feeling a bomb go off was a totally alien experience.

The three men spoke fantastically and did the town and county proud. A special mention to my current club mate Karl, he did his family proud and I'm sure anyone who played against him will certainly agree with his analysis of how he plays the game.

Well done to all involved in OTB. An absorbing, sensitive and provoking piece of work.

[WT4E]

Powerful Stuff..... Remember the moment I heard the news of the bomb vivdly even as a teenager it was harrowing stuff to hear the reports that where to come!

[Rossfan]

A shameful day.

[Jayop]

Cheers for sharing. Listened to the start of it there and will listen to the end of it.

I was rarely in Omagh but 24 hours exactly before we were on that street coming back from Gortatole and the bus stopped to let us run to the shops. Really scary. My Cousin and his young son were injured, the son with serious lifelong injuries. Scary scary stuff. Every time you see the collage picture of all the people who died that day it brings the futility of it home, almost all woman and children.

[Puckoon]

Thanks Very Much Dinny. Harrowing stuff still after all these years. The county final in Pomeroy was a total bust and not surprisingly given the impact to Paddy and Niall and the whole town. I think Paddy was the captain that year, and shipped a nice headbutt from Mickey Coleman very early on under the stand.

[omaghjoe]

Chilling stuff..

I remember the day well. I was in the leisure center when the bomb went off, and being a naive young lad I thought it a bit of a joke TBH, a few buildings destroyed and if the court house got it sure what odds, never did it enter my head that anyone would be injured. 
I got showered and changed and went with the intention of going over to have a nosey at the damage, (yip, thas how innocent and stupid I was). But as I was walking out  I met a friend who had been in the bus depot when it went off. Tough fella and subsequently a bouncer... he was as white as a ghost shaking his head and could hardly speak. He told me that there was a bomb scare and they moved everyone down the town but thats were the bomb was, he said people had started running over to the bus depot, half of them covered in blood and dust, someone told him not to go over there, so he headed to the leisure centre.
Then more people started coming into the lesiure centre, some covered in blood. It was fairly Obvious at this point it wasnt a bit of a laugh anymore. My friend somehow got thru to his Ma and we walked towards her direction and she picked us up a half mile out the road. It was prob an hour since the bomb went off when I got home my parents, musta been worried sick they were both there and I was the only one in house who had been in the town, we were all safe ad were our relations but plenty weren't......
The news was still catching up to the events on the ground. From what I had been told there was going to be hundreds of injuries and dozens of deaths but the news could only report what was confirmed I suppose. I went to the local pub that night and word came thru of various local people that were missing, it was a very sobre mood. All that week were wakes, funerals and memorials, everyone just wanted to do something to assist or show their support to the victims, the emergency services, medical staff anyone who was helping.

The mood and attitude of the town for months afterwards was one of sadness and bleakness, that the town would never recover... but somehow gradually it did, helped in no small part by inspirational people like Claire Gallagher and victims families as well as support the very visible support from all over Ireland, and the indeed the world. It still casts a large shadow over the town and will never be forgotten by those of us who remember it. But there is a whole generation now who weren't born or don't remember it. Time is a great healer but for many people especially those of us that were coming of age it will be a seminal event in their psyche. It passed a few years back but I still cannot believe that it is now longer since the bomb than my age at the time of the bomb, it really seems like yesterday.... But a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, life really does go on.

RIP to all the victims, and prayers for their families and injured.

[omaghjoe]

Quite unbelievable that someone would use this thread to float this