Páirc an Chrócaigh

Ar an 21 Samhain 1920, bhí cluiche mór dúshláin idir Tiobraid Árann agus Baile Átha Cliath le himirt i bPáirc an Chrócaigh, ceanncheathrú na peile Gaelaí. Ar maidin an lae sin rinneadh sléacht ar ‘Bhuíon Cairo’ — grúpa oifigigh rúnda de chuid na Breataine a raibh sé d’aidhm acu gluaiseacht na saoirse in Éirinn a chloí. Ba iad ‘an Dáréag Aspal’ a mharaigh iad, brainse d’Óglaigh na hÉireann a bhí á stiúradh ag Micheál Ó Coileáin. Bhí na Dúchrónaigh cinnte de go mbeadh na hAspail i measc an tslua i bPáirc an Chrócaigh. Rinne baill den fhórsa póilíneachta mhíchlúiteach sin a mbealach go dtí an pháirc agus chrom láithreach ar dhaoine den lucht féachana agus den dá fhoireann a scaoileadh. ‘Domhach na Fola’ a thugtar ar an lá uafásach sin.

On 21 November 1920, Dublin’s Croke Park, home of Gaelic football, hosted the Great Challenge Match between Tipperary and Dublin. That morning, the Cairo Gang — a team of British undercover officers whose aim was to eliminate the Irish independence movement — was wiped out by The Twelve Apostles, a branch of the IRA headed by Michael Collins. Convinced that the killers were concealed amongst the crowd at Croke Park, the notorious police division known as the Black & Tans headed to the ground and indiscriminately shot at spectators and players alike, a massacre which became known as Bloody Sunday.