Pupils to commemorate Croke Park tragedy

Mick Sammon.

Pupils at Scoil Bhride will be putting on a presentation on Thursday 19 November to mark the centenary of Bloody Sunday in Croke Park with two Kilcullen connections, writes Brian Byrne.

The event will be part of the school's local contributions to the Decade of Centenaries, organised by the Department of Culture, Heritage and The Gaeltacht.

The key connection with Kilcullen is Mick Sammon, who was the referee on Sunday 21 November 1920 when 14 people were killed by British Crown forces during a football match between Tipperary and Dublin. From Clane, he played football with both Clane and Kilcullen clubs, and also with the Kildare team. He spent time in prison after being arrested in Kilcullen while reading a Sinn Fein manifesto in the village in August 1918.

The other connection is a current pupil in Scoil Bhride who is a descendant of Joseph Traynor, aged 20, who one of the 14 who were shot dead. A short video interview with the pupil will feature in the Scoil Bhride presentation.  

NOTE: This piece has been corrected, replacing the name of the second connection, erroneously mentioned as Frank Burke, with Joseph Traynor. My thanks to Eanna de Burca, Frank Burke's son, for facilitating the correction.

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