Teens were playing in Clare fields when they were shot by RIC

British forces alleged large force of IRA volunteers were seen fleeing area and gave boys no chance to surrender

Memorial card for the O'Donovan brothers shot dead by the RIC

THE shooting of two teenage brothers by the RIC and the IRA’s execution of three British soldiers the same day show how bloody the conflict was in Co Clare.

Following early Mass on the morning of Sunday, February 20, 1921, brothers Aidan, 18, Thomas, 17, and Cecil O’Donovan, 14, left their home in Thomondgate, Co Limerick.