Boy 'could hear smack of wood as ex-GAA star attacked his pal'

A TEENAGER has told a court all he could hear was the sound of wood smacking off his then 12-year-old friend after he saw former All Star and All-Ireland winning Clare hurler Niall Gilligan go to hit him.

- BY GORDON DEEGAN

At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, the teenager said that a “horrible thing happened to my friend” when recalling the alleged assault of his friend on October 5, 2023 at the Jamaica Inn hostel in Sixmilebridge, Co Clare.

Mr Gilligan, 48, of Rossroe, Kilmurry, Sixmilebridge denies assault causing harm with a stick.

The two 12-year-old boys had been exploring the abandoned Jamaica Inn hostel after 5pm on the day.

Mr Gilligan owned the hostel at the time and the jury has been told that in the days leading up to October 5, it had been broken into and vandalised.

Under cross-examination via video link from a room at Ennis courthouse, the now teenager said in his interview with gardai in November 2023 that he saw Mr Gilligan hit his friend.

At the trial yesterday, the teenager said that he didn't see Mr Gilligan hit his friend. He said: “I saw him go to hit him, I mis-phrased that. All I could hear was the sound of wood smacking off my friend.”

He said: “I said I saw him go to hit him - I didn't see him hit him.”

The teenager said that his friend was ‘tiny’ at the time when he was allegedly attacked.