A FATHER has told how he and his teenage son were forced to abandon their train journey home after fighting broke out between Armagh and Tyrone GAA fans.
The Co Antrim man, who did not want to be named, described violent scenes on the 8.50pm Belfast-bound train on Saturday following the All-Ireland quarter final at Croke Park.
He said he saw a Tyrone supporter in his early twenties punch a young female Armagh fan in the face during the fight, which began around half an hour after the train left Connolly station in Dublin.
Translink last night confirmed it was investigating the brawl.
The man said he was so fearful for his and his son's safety that they got off the train at Drogheda and waited until they were picked up by his wife in the early hours of yesterday.
"My son said to me 'Daddy, I don't want to go back to anything again'," he said.
The man had travelled to Dublin with his 13-year-old son to attend a pre-season friendly soccer match between Liverpool and Athletic Bilbao.
"As soon as we walked into Connolly station I said to my son 'we're going to have problems'," he said.
"There was just an atmosphere. When you see people with bottles of vodka and crates of beer on the train you know there's going to be trouble."
He said the train was crowded with fans travelling back from the GAA and soccer matches, forcing many people to sit on floors.
He said the "almighty fight" broke out as the train approached Drogheda.
"There were children of four, five and six years of age who were squealing," he said.
"An old lady was so frightened she pushed the emergency stop button. The train doors opened and people were getting out on to the tracks.
"We stopped for 30 minutes outside Drogheda. When we eventually arrived in Drogheda, gardaí were at the station."
A Garda spokesman confirmed gardaí were called to Drogheda station but "there was no trouble and no one was arrested".
A Translink spokeswoman said it is investigating a row "involving some disruptive passengers".
"The train manager raised concerns and the Garda were called," she said.
"The train stopped at Drogheda to allow them to board and deal with the situation. A number of passengers were removed and the Garda continued to travel on the train to Dundalk.
"We can confirm that the emergency stop was deployed by a passenger and the train made a stop just before Drogheda. At no time were any passengers on the track, however train crew did leave the train in order to deal with this situation."
She said although the train was delayed, three other special trains which had been put on following Saturday's matches "operated from Dublin to Belfast without incident".
When asked about claims that some fans boarded the train with large amounts of alcohol, she said: "Translink has a policy that only alcohol purchased on board the Enterprise train can be consumed on the train".
