A Co Kildare man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of high profile dissident republican Laurence Keane, who beaten to death during an attack in Athy in 2013.
Seamus Morgan, from The Hollands, Athy denied the murdering Keane but was found guilty following a jury trial at Dublin's Central Criminal Court.
The court was told the 49-year-old has a previous conviction for manslaughter having stabbed a man to death in a Dublin pub in 2002.
The jury also heard that prior to the attack there was long-standing ill will between Morgan and Keane.
The father-of-six was badly beaten around the head in a laneway between St John's Lane and the Greenhills estate in Athy. His skull was fractured in four places and he died in hospital the next day.
Three witnesses said they saw Morgan attack Keane, one said he did so with an iron bar. The victim's blood was also later found on Morgan's shoes.
Known as 'The Bomber' Keane was jailed for 15 years in 1998 after he was caught with a 980lb bomb about to board a ship at Dun Laoghaire harbour heading to Liverpool as part of a Real IRA plot to bomb the Grand National at Aintree.
There were angry scenes at his funeral in his native Kildare in July 2013 when armed gardai moved in to prevent dissident republicans from firing shots over his coffin. It came after police were criticised for not moving in to prevent shots being fired over the coffin of Real IRA leader Alan Ryan who was shot dead in September 2012.
