The siege of Blanchardstown

This may be a figment of my imagination but I doubt it.The events outlined here took place in ,I would guess, 1968 or thereabouts.I say this because I was still going to Brunner at the time and had to vary my time of arrival as a consequence of what happened.
First let me set the scene.As with most of my social life it was GAA related.
Those times Brigids played their matches in the Priests Field opposite Davy's Pub (now the Bell).The Priest hadn't built the Parish House now in the field,Verona hadn't acquired the soccer pitch now there,the School extension was not there,and Blanchardstown was still a rural village,a fact I was reminded of every day in Brunner ,where I was called a culchie.
We played senior football at the time,had no hurling teams at all and Tommy Phelan was Chairman.Around that time I won an under 16 and a half hurling championship with Eoghan Ruaidh as there was no Brigids team.Joey Towell ,who became a Dublin legend was a team mate.He was magic even then .I think Clontarf had no hurling team either and my memory is that a Jerry O Connor from there was also involved with the team.
Juvenile football was sporadic and I firmly remember being bitterly disappointed at giving a walkover in an under 16 final because we had no transport.Freddie Reilly and John Hynes,who used live opposite the Bank of Ireland on the Main Street, were over the team and work commitments decreed they couldn't make it.They had stepped into the breach as a result of a death bed plea from Tom Russell,as had Tommy Tonge and his neighbour Tommy Halpin.
Around that time also we had embarked on a waste paper recycling enterprise.Basically we scoured the Parish for waste paper,bailed it and sold it to a recycling company.We had canvassed the Parish and left plastic sacks to those willing to participate.In canvassing Castleknock I had got thick when asked to go to the servant's entrance and left a suitable note and a plastic bag.Nearly arrested for trespass.Lar Wade was the operator of the bailing press and we lost Pollock Hill,a good footballer from the ranks as he reasoned that we should devote more time to football training than collecting used papers.
Well the Club organised a massive Carnival in the Priest's  Field to raise funds,There was a huge marquee and top class  show bands hired each night for a week.They were good bands and huge crowds of dancers used attend,mostly from Cabra and Finglas.As the week progressed the tensions between these tribes became palpable,seemingly because a number of guys from one area were trying to get off with a the girlfriends of the other side.Now there would be several hundred dancers there every night,as there were when all hell broke loose.As it eventually did when a fight broke out between two  guys over a girl,
There were about twenty of us acting as Maors and Lar intervened to stop the fight .Big mistake .Both sides joined up and turned on Lar.We backed Lar and so it began.A little like the three hundred spartans against the African Hordes.There were about twenty of us against say four hundred of them,.I am not exagerating.The women dancers jumped up on the benches at the periphery of the tent and the band did a runner.
Charlie Collins was the main man and we tried to get all our lads into the one spot.My brother Robert became isolated and I heard him roar for help.He had his back to one of the main poles holding up the tent and was totally surrounded getting punched to pieces.
Let me say that it was all fist and an odd boot fight ,No knives nor bottles.Manly enough I suppose.Anyhow I fought my way in to Robert's rescue and we beat our way back to the rest of the boys.
We formed a line across the hall and they came at us in battallions,very well organised.As soon as you beat back a line of them another came up in support.I knocked out my first man that day totally by accident.I swung a punch at the jaw of an assailant,he ducked and another lad coming behind him ran on to the end of the swing.Down he went.Having said that I was fairly peeled myself as were all of us .Charlie Collins ,Tom Smith,Tommy Downey,Colm Brennan ,Willie Farrell .Mattie Keane I think ,Jigser Powell (then courting Patsi Wade)and I know there were more but cannot remember tham ,fought like our lives depended on it.,Which I suppose they did.Now this happened late at night and the Garda presence was minimal;.There were few Gardai in Blanch at the time,so no great assistance from that quarter,
Just when we were looking into the face of Armageddon a siren wailed and into the tent came a dozen or more of the finest uniformed gardai you ever saw.Their leader was a grizzled auld fella as ram rod straight as you could imagine.He stood at the door surveying all before him and pointed out the ring leaders to his apostles.They waded in and plucked out at least a dozen of the main protagonists.These boys could handle themselves and marched their defeated foes into a paddy wagon.Id say they got a right thumping on the way in .The mob dispersed and we brushed ourselves down.Lugs Brannigan and his crew had come ,saw and conquered.
Well not quite as it turned out.Meself and Robert headed down the main street for home.Not a chance as there were hundreds of fellas outside the garda station and they had the road blocked.We had to run back to the field and reassemble there.Over time the mob reassembled coming back from River Road to join up with the remnants on the main street and they were out for blood.
The stand odff took place in Davy Phelans car park.We again stood shoulder to shoulder.I was beside Tommy Downey ,RIP.Tommy wore glasses and he had a body coat shirt and tie on underneath.Just before they charged he took off the glasses ,put them in the breast pocket of the body coat and said here goes.As I said fists and boots.We fought for dear life and beat them off.I turned to Tommy Downey to see how he was.The body coat and the glasses were still intact.Nothing was left of his shiort and vest and he weas naked from the waist up underneath.It was some scrap.
Tom Smith the spud man had the misfortune to have put on his best suit and it was in shreds.I was in bits but still standing and again tried to get home.No luck again,as they controlled the main street.
Tom Smith said feck this and as we were going the same direction as himself placed us in his Merc and headed off towards the Greyhound.They saw us coming and tried to block the road again,Tom's response was to put the boot down.They soon shifted.And home we got.Not a word to the parents.We missed the school bus the next day.Just as well as we were told that a few lads from Cabra had got on looking for us.For about a month afterwards we had to vary the times we got the bus to school.Things soon petered out.
As far as I  know no other account of this event,which may or may not have happened ,exists.No doubt the names of the people mentioned above are fictional or are they.Check it out.

Charlie Collins died during the week and was cremated.He was the toughest defender we had that day and after awhile a heap of inert bodies piled up around him.He was one tough dude as the Kilbride team of the seventies,who we often met in Russsell Cup Tournaments in the Priests Field ,would attest.He feared no one.
Ar dheis De go raibh a hanam.