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The Story of the 14 Victims

Here you’ll find a brief overview of each of the 14 victims. The accompanying portraits have been sketched by artist David Sweeney. Original photographs of each victim do not exist, so some of these sketches are created rather than replicated.

Jane Boyle

Jane Boyle

Aged 28 Years

Jane Boyle lived with her sister May and her family at 12 Lennox Street in Portobello, the heart of the Jewish neighbourhood near Dublin city centre. Jane worked as a chargehand at Speidel’s Pork Butchers on Talbot Street.  She attended Croke Park on 21st November with her fiancé, Daniel Byron.  They were due to be married the following Friday at St. Kevin’s Church on Harrington Street. 

Jane and Daniel were moving towards the exit at St. James Avenue when they were caught in the crush.  Jane died from a bullet wound on her back.  Her jaw, right clavicle and rib were also fractured.  Her body was formally identified at the Mater Hospital by her brother James.

Jane was buried in her wedding dress and laid to rest in Glasnevin Cemetery.

James Burke

James Burke

Aged 44 Years

James Burke lived in Windy Arbour and worked in Terenure Laundry.  He was married to Annie and they had five children.  He was caught in the crush as spectators fled towards the Croke Park exits.  James’ death was recorded as being due to shock and heart failure.
His body was formally identified by his wife Annie at Jervis Street Hospital.   James is buried in Churchtown.
Daniel Carroll

Daniel Carroll

Aged 30 Years

Daniel Carroll was originally from County Tipperary.  He had moved to Dublin and worked in the licensed trade, managing a pub for Martin Kennedy in Drumcondra.  His sister May lived near the top of Clonliffe Road and Daniel supported her from his annual salary of £120.  He visited her regularly on his way to work or after a match in Croke Park.

Daniel was walking away from Croke Park when he was shot in the thigh, the bullet severing many blood vessels.  Daniel died on Tuesday 23rd November - the 13th victim of Bloody Sunday - and was buried two days later in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Michael Feery

Michael Feery

Aged 30 Years

Michael Feery lived in Gardiner Place with his wife and son.  He fought with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and survived the trenches of World War One before joining the Royal Marine labour corps.  In 1920, he was unemployed and made money from doing odd jobs.

Michael Feery died from a thigh wound after he became impaled on a spike while trying to flee the shooting in Croke Park.  He died in a house on Russell Street. His body lay unclaimed for five days in Jervis Hospital morgue.  At the time of his death, Michael was wearing his old army fatigues.

The exact last resting place of Michael Feery is not known. He is buried along with 35,000 others in a mass common grave now covered with verdant grass in the St Paul’s cemetery extension of Glasnevin.

Michael Hogan

Michael Hogan

Aged 24 Years

Michael (Mick) Hogan from Grangemockler was the only player to be killed at Croke Park on Bloody Sunday. He was the corner back on the Tipperary team and came from a farming background. 
 
Hogan was marking Dublin’s star forward Frank Burke of UCD on the day. He was shot in the back as he crawled along the pitch to escape the shooting. In the aftermath Hogan’s teammate Ned O’Shea identified the body and Tipperary priest Fr. Crotty knelt beside him to say an Act of Contrition. Hogan’s body was taken to the Mater hospital and his mother at home in Tipperary was informed of his death by two local priests.
 
In 1925 the GAA named the Hogan Stand at Croke Park in his honour. Hogan’s brother Dan became Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces in 1927, while the Hogan Cup, the trophy presented to the winners of the All-Ireland secondary schools football championship, is named after another sibling Brother Thomas Hogan. He is buried in Grangemockler, Co. Tipperary.

Tom Hogan

Tom Hogan

Aged 19 Years

Tom Hogan was the youngest of seven children born to Patrick and Elizabeth Hogan in Tankardstown, Kilmallock, County Limerick.  Before the age of 11, Tom had lost both his parents and his eldest sister, Katie, the only member of the family to have a child.  Tom’s other sister, Maggie, left her job and came home to take care of the family.

Tom joined the Volunteers and moved to Dublin where he lived at St James’ Terrace in Dolphins Barn and worked as a mechanic by trade.

On Bloody Sunday, Tom was shot in the shoulder and admitted to the Mater Hospital in a critical condition.  His right arm was amputated and gas gangrene set in after the operation.   Tom Hogan succumbed to his injuries at 6.30pm on Friday 26th November.  He was the 14th victim from Croke Park on Bloody Sunday and is buried in Dromin graveyard in Kilmallock.

James Matthews

James Matthews

Aged 48 Years

James Matthews worked as a day labourer and lived in a tenement house on North Cumberland Street with his wife, Kate and family.   James suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.

Following a funeral mass in the Pro-Cathedral on Marlborough Street, James Matthews was buried in Glasnevin cemetery.

Patrick O'Dowd

Patrick O'Dowd

Aged 57 Years

Patrick O’Dowd lived on Lower Buckingham Street with his wife Julia and two children. He worked as a labourer with Clarke’s Builders in Fairview.

Patrick was shot as he helped people over the wall on the east side of the ground into the adjoining Belvedere sports field.   He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

Thomas Ryan

Thomas Ryan

Aged 27 Years

Thomas Ryan was a native of Glenbrien in County Wexford.  He lived on Viking Road in Arbour Hill with his wife and two children and worked as a labourer for the Gas Company in Dublin.

As an IRA section commander, Thomas Ryan received word at home on the morning of Bloody Sunday of the earlier events on the other side of the city.  Despite a warning to stay away from Croke Park that day, Thomas went along to the game.  When the gunfire started, he ran to downed Tipperary player Michael Hogan and whispered an Act of Contrition in his ear before he was hit with a bullet himself and slumped to the ground.

Thomas Ryan later died at Jervis Street Hospital and was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery.

James Teehan

James Teehan

Aged 26 Years

 James Teehan was originally from Tipperary but lived and worked with his brother John in his public house on Green Street.  James was crushed by the crowds as he tried to escape the shootings in Croke Park and was pronounced dead on admission to Jervis Street Hospital. 

James was buried in Ballinalacken Cemetery, Glengoole, Tipperary.

Joe Traynor

Joe Traynor

Aged 20 Years

Joe Traynor was born in 1900, the second son of Michael and Kathlyn Traynor.  A keen footballer, Joe was captain of the Young Emmets team in Inchicore.  He had cycled to Croke Park with friends on 21st November and was on the Canal End terrace behind the goals when the shooting started. Despite being shot, Joe was assisted over the wall and carried through Belvedere sportsfield to the Ring family home in Sackville Gardens.  Joe lay on a table in the Ring home, conscious but bleeding heavily.  The Rings carried Joe down a laneway from their house and he was picked up by ambulance on Sackville Avenue.

Patrick Cassin, House Surgeon at Jervis Street Hospital, confirmed that Joe had been shot twice in the small of his back and died about one hour after admission.

Joe Traynor is buried in Bluebell Cemetery in Dublin.

Jerome O'Leary

Jerome O'Leary

Aged 10 Years

The youngest victim of the shootings at Croke Park was ten-year-old Jerome O’Leary from nearby Blessington Street. Schoolboy Jerome was the second child of Cork natives Jerome and Ellen. O’Leary was shot through the head as he sat watching the match on a wall behind the canal goal. He was taken to the Mater hospital.
He is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

William (Perry) Robinson

William (Perry) Robinson

Aged 11 Years

William Robinson, known as Perry, was eleven years old on Bloody Sunday. He was a local from Little Britain Street and his father Patrick was a labourer and a champion handballer. Perry had climbed a tree at the corner of the Canal end on Jones’ Road to view the match. The first shot fired in Croke Park went into his chest and through his right shoulder before he fell to the ground. Perry was carried away from the grounds in his blood-soaked jersey and put in a cab to Drumcondra hospital. His family were at the hospital on the morning of Tuesday November 23rd when they were told he had died. His funeral mass was at Halston Street Church and he was buried on buried on November 26th in Glasnevin Cemetery.

John William (Billy) Scott

John William (Billy) Scott

Aged 14 Years

John William Scott, known as Billy, grew up on Fitzroy Avenue in the shadow of Croke Park. A ricocheting bullet ripped through his chest during the random shooting. The damage was so bad that it was initially believed to be a bayonet wound. Billy was taken to Mrs Colman’s house on St James’ Avenue and laid on the table. He was bleeding from the chest but still alive and he asked for his mother. He died 45 minutes later. His father, John, arrived at the house where Mrs Colman gave him Billy’s tie pin and glasses to confirm the death. He was fourteen when he died and is buried in Glasnevin cemetery.