On This Day / November 23, 1920
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19201123
Reference Date
19201123
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 23rd November 1920, Ireland awoke to the full horror of “Bloody Sunday.” Morning assassinations of British intelligence officers were followed by the catastrophic Croke Park massacre. Dr Éamon Phoenix’s edited column captures the day Dublin fell “under siege.”
Dublin’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ | On This Day – 23rd November 1920
THE terror in Cork city last weekend was appalling, but it was eclipsed by yesterday’s unprecedented series of tragedies in Dublin.
More than twenty people were killed in the city during the day – eleven [British] officers and ex-officers and one ‘civilian’ in the morning and at least 12 members of the public in the afternoon at Jones’s Road where 12,000 to 14,000 people had gathered to see a football match. Dublin is virtually a city ‘under a siege’.
A series of sensational shootings occurred in Dublin and suburbs yesterday resulting in many deaths.
Two officers were killed in Upper Mount Street, two officers were killed and four wounded in Upper Pembroke Street and at least three men were killed in Lower Mount Street.
At nine o’clock in the morning a party of armed men suddenly appeared in the vestibule of the Gresham Hotel.. It was found later that two guests had been shot dead in their rooms.
Croke Park Horror
TERRIBLE scenes took place during the Tipperary v Dublin football match at the Jones’s Road ground. The match began at 2.45, the grounds being crowded with spectators numbering some 15,000.
About 3.15 a dozen lorries containing armed men of various classes suddenly arrived outside the grounds. It is stated that machineguns were posted on the [adjoining] railway line.
It is also alleged that the gates were forced and that shots were immediately fired first in the air and then into the crowd.
When the firing began there was a wild stampede amongst the spectators.
The scene was really terrifying and, in the rush, scores were knocked down and trampled upon while the screams of the women and children were terrible to listen to.
Michael Hogan, a well-known Tipperary player, was shot through the mouth and killed instantly. About a dozen people were killed on the spot.
Dublin Castle states: ‘It is believed that a number of gunmen came up today under the guise of wishing to attend a Gaelic football match, but that their real motive was to take part in a series of murderous outrages in Dublin this morning.
‘In this belief it was decided to make investigations and for this purpose a mixed party of military, RIC, Police and Auxiliary Police were detailed. They were fired upon. … Fire was returned….
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Michael Collins had ordered a pre-emptive strike by the Dublin IRA – including future taoiseach Sean Lemass – against British intelligence officers.
Chilling though these targeted killings were, they were overshadowed by the indiscriminate slaughter by the ‘Tans at Croke Park that afternoon.
Bloody Sunday changed the course of the war and forced the British towards negotiations.)
On This Day – 23rd November 1920
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19201123
Reference Date
19201123
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – 23rd November 1920, Ireland awoke to the full horror of “Bloody Sunday.” Morning assassinations of British intelligence officers were followed by the catastrophic Croke Park massacre. Dr Éamon Phoenix’s edited column captures the day Dublin fell “under siege.”
Dublin’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ | On This Day – 23rd November 1920
THE terror in Cork city last weekend was appalling, but it was eclipsed by yesterday’s unprecedented series of tragedies in Dublin.
More than twenty people were killed in the city during the day – eleven [British] officers and ex-officers and one ‘civilian’ in the morning and at least 12 members of the public in the afternoon at Jones’s Road where 12,000 to 14,000 people had gathered to see a football match. Dublin is virtually a city ‘under a siege’.
A series of sensational shootings occurred in Dublin and suburbs yesterday resulting in many deaths.
Two officers were killed in Upper Mount Street, two officers were killed and four wounded in Upper Pembroke Street and at least three men were killed in Lower Mount Street.
At nine o’clock in the morning a party of armed men suddenly appeared in the vestibule of the Gresham Hotel.. It was found later that two guests had been shot dead in their rooms.
Croke Park Horror
TERRIBLE scenes took place during the Tipperary v Dublin football match at the Jones’s Road ground. The match began at 2.45, the grounds being crowded with spectators numbering some 15,000.
About 3.15 a dozen lorries containing armed men of various classes suddenly arrived outside the grounds. It is stated that machineguns were posted on the [adjoining] railway line.
It is also alleged that the gates were forced and that shots were immediately fired first in the air and then into the crowd.
When the firing began there was a wild stampede amongst the spectators.
The scene was really terrifying and, in the rush, scores were knocked down and trampled upon while the screams of the women and children were terrible to listen to.
Michael Hogan, a well-known Tipperary player, was shot through the mouth and killed instantly. About a dozen people were killed on the spot.
Dublin Castle states: ‘It is believed that a number of gunmen came up today under the guise of wishing to attend a Gaelic football match, but that their real motive was to take part in a series of murderous outrages in Dublin this morning.
‘In this belief it was decided to make investigations and for this purpose a mixed party of military, RIC, Police and Auxiliary Police were detailed. They were fired upon. … Fire was returned….
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Michael Collins had ordered a pre-emptive strike by the Dublin IRA – including future taoiseach Sean Lemass – against British intelligence officers.
Chilling though these targeted killings were, they were overshadowed by the indiscriminate slaughter by the ‘Tans at Croke Park that afternoon.
Bloody Sunday changed the course of the war and forced the British towards negotiations.)
On This Day – 23rd November 1920
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19201123
Reference Date
November 23, 2020
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – 23rd November 1920, Ireland awoke to the full horror of “Bloody Sunday.” Morning assassinations of British intelligence officers were followed by the catastrophic Croke Park massacre. Dr Éamon Phoenix’s edited column captures the day Dublin fell “under siege.”
Dublin’s ‘Bloody Sunday’ | On This Day – 23rd November 1920
THE terror in Cork city last weekend was appalling, but it was eclipsed by yesterday’s unprecedented series of tragedies in Dublin.
More than twenty people were killed in the city during the day – eleven [British] officers and ex-officers and one ‘civilian’ in the morning and at least 12 members of the public in the afternoon at Jones’s Road where 12,000 to 14,000 people had gathered to see a football match. Dublin is virtually a city ‘under a siege’.
A series of sensational shootings occurred in Dublin and suburbs yesterday resulting in many deaths.
Two officers were killed in Upper Mount Street, two officers were killed and four wounded in Upper Pembroke Street and at least three men were killed in Lower Mount Street.
At nine o’clock in the morning a party of armed men suddenly appeared in the vestibule of the Gresham Hotel.. It was found later that two guests had been shot dead in their rooms.
Croke Park Horror
TERRIBLE scenes took place during the Tipperary v Dublin football match at the Jones’s Road ground. The match began at 2.45, the grounds being crowded with spectators numbering some 15,000.
About 3.15 a dozen lorries containing armed men of various classes suddenly arrived outside the grounds. It is stated that machineguns were posted on the [adjoining] railway line.
It is also alleged that the gates were forced and that shots were immediately fired first in the air and then into the crowd.
When the firing began there was a wild stampede amongst the spectators.
The scene was really terrifying and, in the rush, scores were knocked down and trampled upon while the screams of the women and children were terrible to listen to.
Michael Hogan, a well-known Tipperary player, was shot through the mouth and killed instantly. About a dozen people were killed on the spot.
Dublin Castle states: ‘It is believed that a number of gunmen came up today under the guise of wishing to attend a Gaelic football match, but that their real motive was to take part in a series of murderous outrages in Dublin this morning.
‘In this belief it was decided to make investigations and for this purpose a mixed party of military, RIC, Police and Auxiliary Police were detailed. They were fired upon. … Fire was returned….
(Eamon Phoenix editor’s note: Michael Collins had ordered a pre-emptive strike by the Dublin IRA – including future taoiseach Sean Lemass – against British intelligence officers.
Chilling though these targeted killings were, they were overshadowed by the indiscriminate slaughter by the ‘Tans at Croke Park that afternoon.
Bloody Sunday changed the course of the war and forced the British towards negotiations.)
On This Day – 23rd November 1920
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
On This Day is a daily column in the Irish News looking back either 50 or 100 years. The column was compiled by Dr Éamon Phoenix from the mid 1980s until autumn, 2022. The Foundation is very grateful to the Irish News for giving permission to reproduce Eamon’s columns. Funding gratefully received from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Magill Trust.
* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.