Riot followed bare-knuckle fist battle

A man who caused a riot when he took part in a prearranged bare-knuckle fight which attracted up to 200 spectators in a halting site near Galway City has been given a year to prove his fighting days are over.

Video clips of the illegal fight at Carrowbrowne Halting Site, Headford Rd, Galway, on Jun 12 last year, were put on YouTube and show Patrick “Jaws” Ward, aged 39, fighting Barney McGinley.

Ward, who lived in Rahoon, Galway, at the time but who now lives at 56 Danesfort Drive, Loughrea, with his wife and seven children, pleaded guilty last December before Galway Circuit Criminal to committing an affray in that he and his co-accused, Mr McGinley, used or threatened to use unlawful violence towards each other at the halting site.