Queen takes centre stage at Croke Park

The Queen took centre stage at Dublin’s iconic Croke Park stadium today in a historic new act of Anglo-Irish reconciliation.

After laying separate wreaths in memory of the men and women who died fighting for independence, and the 49,000 Irish soldiers killed in the First World War, she toured the city’s spectacular sporting arena in the latest engagement of an extraordinary royal visit to the Republic of Ireland.

It was inside the ground in November 1920 when British soldiers shot and killed 14 civilians attending a football match – an atrocity which has lingered in Ireland ever since, especially on the terracing behind one set of goals where it happened.

Generations of hurt and mistrust created by those deaths were set aside this afternoon as the Queen, dressed in a yellow hat and coat and accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, was met at the main entrance by GAA president Christy Cooney.

President Mary McAleese, who is hosting the visit, was also there along with a party of school children, who lined up on either side wearing the colours of GAA jerseys for each of the 32 counties as well as London and New York.

Security was again tight. A group of dissident republicans protested on a street less than a kilometre away, but a heavy police presence made sure they were kept well away from the stadium, the spiritual home of hundreds of thousands of GAA fans throughout the world.