Peter Byrne: 36 years on, a loss that remains as  inexplicable now as then

Byrne, a talented former Dublin U21 hurler, had initially been admitted to Navan Hospital a few hours after leaving the field with a nosebleed in a challenge game.  A few days later surgery was performed and he did not survive

The Dunshaughlin hurling team that won the 1983 Meath intermediate hurling championship. Peter Byrne is second from the left in the back row, his head tilted slightly away from the camera. Gerry Flanagan is third from the left in the front row.

The recent World Snooker final hauled Gerry Flanagan back to the summer of 1985 and the memory of his late pal Peter Byrne, as it does every year.

In a room at the Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin, a few hours after Dennis Taylor’s epic ‘black ball final’ defeat of Steve Davis, the Dunshaughlin club mates chatted for the last time.