Violent face-off with gardaí

A house was barricaded with a stove as people armed with knives, golf clubs, and a machete threw bottles from inside during a face-off with gardaí, with a television thrown through an upstairs window.

Two men were sentenced yesterday for engaging in violent disorder at the house at Old Spangle Hill, Cork. Judge David Riordan gave both of them five-year sentences suspended on condition that they would keep the peace for the next five years.

Sergeant Joseph Maher outlined the background to the violent disorder to which Frank Ahern, 44, of 15 Old Spangle Hill, and Eric O’Driscoll, of 20 Cushing Place, Farranree, Cork, both pleaded guilty.