Gardaí stop gang beating in Blarney

GARDAÍ WERE praised yesterday for their intervention in a violent dispute in Blarney, Co Cork, in which four young men were severely beaten by a gang armed with iron bars and knives.

The four youths, all in their late teens, were yesterday recovering from injuries received in the alleged attack in a wooded area at Station Road, Blarney shortly after 10pm on Sunday.

A gang of youths aged between 16 and 18 was allegedly involved with a fist fight with the four local students. The gang left the area and returned with knives and iron bars. Two of the youths were yesterday being questioned in connection with the incident.

Fine Gael Councillor Joe O’Callaghan came across the fight and called gardaí. Mr O’Callaghan said “the guards were absolutely brilliant”.

The injured men, students at University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology, had been drinking in the wooded area when they were allegedly attacked.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times