All hell broke loose in a County Galway town for a time on St Stephen’s Day when a group of Travellers became embroiled in a drink-fuelled street brawl.

Gardaí had to call in reinforcements in Loughrea on Monday evening after a row between Travellers escalated into a full-blown fight on Main Street.

Onlookers say that more than a dozen men used fists, iron bars and hurls to beat each other.

Some businesses and publicans went into ‘lockdown’ and shut their premises for a period until the fracas was brought under control.

As well as the main ‘flashpoint’ on Main Street, there were some other public order incidents at an estate in the town, and elsewhere at premises on the outskirts, which were connected to the main incident.

Travellers from Offaly and Midlands, who travelled to Loughrea for the festivities, clashed with local Travellers.

A Garda spokesperson confirmed to the Connacht Tribune that there was a “large scale public order incident” in the town on Monday, December 26, which included men armed with iron bars, hurls and other weapons. At least one arrest was made.

Former Mayor of County Galway, Michael Mogie Maher, was in town at 7am on December 27 and spent hours clearing up the mess that was made on St Stephen’s Day, one of the busiest of the year for revelry.

“There was a lot of blood on the pavement of Main Street – it was like they killed a pig, there was blood everywhere,” said the Fine Gael representative.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.