On the afternoon of 21 November 1920, Tipperary were scheduled to play Dublin in a one-off challenge match at Croke Park, the proceeds of which were in aid of the Republican Prisoners Dependents Fund.
Tensions were high in Dublin due to fears of a reprisal by Crown forces following the assassination of 14 members of the British intelligence network by Michael Collins’s ‘Squad’ in Dublin that morning. Despite this, a crowd of almost 10,000 gathered in Croke Park.
Eye-witness accounts suggest that five minutes after the throw-in an aeroplane flew over Croke Park. It circled the ground twice and shot a red flare - a signal to a mixed force of Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.), Auxiliary Police and Military who then stormed into Croke Park and opened fire on the crowd.
Amongst the spectators, there was a rush to all four exits, but the army stopped people from leaving the ground and this created a series of crushes around the stadium. Along the Cusack Stand side, hundreds of people braved the twenty-foot drop and jumped into the adjacent Belvedere Sports Grounds. The shooting lasted for less than two minutes.
That afternoon in Croke Park, 14 people lost their lives. Three of the 14 were from Tipperary- Michael Hogan, Daniel Carroll and James Teehan.
Michael Hogan (24): Hogan was captain of the Tipperary team and also captain of the Grangemockler company of the IRA. He was only one of two IRA men on the Tipperary team, the other being Tommy Ryan. Hogan was born into a farming family in 1896. He joined Sinn Féin in 1919, and later the local company of the Irish Volunteers. On the day before the match Hogan and a few others had been involved in an altercation on a train with men from the Lincolnshire regiment. As a consequence, Hogan did not stay in Barry's Hotel that night with the rest of the team. He was shot in the back near what is now Hill 16. In 1924 the newly-built stand in Croke Park was named after him.
Daniel Carroll (30): Carroll, from Templederry, was a bar manager in Drumcondra who was shot on exiting the ground. He had taken the day off to attend the match, and died of wounds two days after Bloody Sunday. His brother Joseph had served with the British army in the first World War.
James Teehan (26): Teehan was originally from Tipperary but lived and worked with his brother John in his public house on Green Street in Smithfield. He said goodbye to his brother after the pair shut the pub for the afternoon. Teehan was crushed to death as he tried to escape the crowds and was pronounced dead on admission to Jervis Street Hospital. He is buried in Co Tipperary.
The Tipperary team that played Dublin in Croke Park on Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920. Jimmy Doran, Mullinahone; Tommy Powell, Clonmel; Ned O’Shea, captain, Fethard; Jackie Brett, Mullinahone; Gus McCarthy, Fethard. Jim Ryan, Templemore; Bill Barrett, Mullinahone; Jack Kickham, Mullinahone; Michael Hogan, Grangemockler; Jimmy McNamara, Cahir; Dick Lanigan, Grangemockler; Jerry Shelly, Grangemockler; Frank Scout Butler, Fethard; Bill Ryan, Loughmore/Castleiney; Tommy Ryan, Ballylooby/Castlegrace; Mick Nolan, Mullinahone; Tommy O’Connor, Ballylooby/Castlegrace; Jim Egan, Mullinahone.
Sources:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/bloody-sunday-1920-the-32-killed-at-home-at-croke-park-in-dublin-castle-or-who-died-later-of-wounds-received-1.4415856
https://crokepark.ie/bloodysunday
https://www.tipperarylive.ie/news/sport/590167/tipperary-players-on-bloody-sunday-were-heroes-of-all-time.html
