Alison O'Riordan
A Waterford man accused of murder boasted that he had knocked a young Dublin construction worker out like mixed martial artist Conor McGregor "like he was proud of it" and said he should have been in the UFC and didn't know his own strength, witnesses have told a trial.
Maurice 'Mossy' Boland (36), of Brideview Close, Tallow, Co Waterford, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Cian Gallagher (26) at Barrack Street in Tallow on November 10th, 2022.
The jury has heard that the deceased man was from the Malahide Road in Dublin 17 and worked in a managerial role mainly on civil construction projects up to the time of his death.
The 12 jurors were told by the State in the opening address that Mr Gallagher, who was working on a construction project in Co Waterford, died from a brain bleed eight days after he was punched and knocked to the ground by the accused man in the early hours of November 2nd. The defendant later described the altercation to gardaí as a "pure accident".
Student Patrick Fennessy told Roisin Lacey SC, prosecuting, on Thursday that he was 17 years old in 2022 and was playing a minor county final against Tallow on November 1st. He and his two friends, James Flynn and Carthack Hickey, drove to Tallow later that night to see whether any of the Tallow minors were around.
The three men were driving towards Clancy's Bar in Tallow between midnight and 00.30, when they saw a man on his feet and another man on the ground in the middle of the road outside the pub. Mr Fennessy said they initially thought when they got out of the car it was just two friends who had a bit too much to drink and one of them had fallen over.
The witness said the man on his feet was trying to drag the other man along the ground and off the road. They realised the man on his feet was a bit intoxicated so they moved the man on the ground, who was wearing work clothes, off the road and onto the footpath. He said there was a bit of blood coming out of the man's mouth, and he was breathing, but it sounded as if he was snoring.
Mr Fennessy said his friend Mr Flynn rang 999 and that he and Mr Hickey spoke to the man on his feet, who he now knew to be Mr Boland. The witness said the accused told them that Mr Gallagher had hit him first and that he [Mr Boland] was just defending himself.
The witness added: "Then he [Mr Boland] pulled me to the side and said he didn't know his own strength. He said he was like Conor McGregor and gestured his fist up to my jaw".
He said the accused told him that Mr Gallagher was speaking to him about the Russians and how they were going to take over with the bombings.
Mr Fennessy said on Thursday that a woman driving a black Ford Fiesta was "coming and going" and came back to the scene numerous times. He said he saw the woman pull the accused to the side and that Mr Boland had pulled his phone out of his pocket to give to her.
Under cross-examination, Michael Bowman SC, defending, put it to the witness that he had said in his direct examination that his client was a bit drunk but had told gardaí the accused was very drunk when he spoke to them the day after the incident. The witness said this was a fair statement.
In his evidence, James Flynn said the accused man told them there was no need to get an ambulance for Mr Gallagher as he didn't want "to get involved in it".
Mr Flynn said he called 999 at 00.27 and the operator told him to put Mr Gallagher on his back with his head raised. He said he could hear the deceased breathing, but it was a "laboured snore" when he was breathing in.
"Even when I was on the phone, Mossy was asking us not to get an ambulance, that Cian would be fine, he was just asleep. Mossy had asked us to put him in the back of the car and let him sleep it off at home," added the witness.
Asked by Ms Lacey whether anything was said as to how Mr Gallagher ended up on the ground, Mr Flynn replied: "Mossy said he was chatting shit to him, and he needed to shut him up, he showed on Patrick [Fennessy] where he had punched him".
"He said he had knocked him out like Conor McGregor and that he should have been in the UFC," continued the witness.
Mr Flynn said the accused said it as if he was "proud of it, making a joke of it".
The witness said they asked Mr Boland what he worked at, and the accused had laughed and said he "drinks".
He said the accused kept saying that Mr Gallagher was talking about the Russians and "something about bombs".
The witness agreed with Mr Bowman that his client was highly intoxicated on the night. He also agreed the accused had engaged in "some drunken mouthing off" and that he thought "the talk" was boastful that he should have been in the UFC.
Mr Bowman put it to the witness that his client "certainly didn't have the physique of being in the UFC," to which Mr Flynn replied: "I have seen some very skinny UFC fighters".
Carthack Hickey told Conor O'Doherty BL, prosecuting, that Mr Boland told him he had an argument with Mr Gallagher but that the construction worker had swung first and missed. The witness said the accused told him he had hit Mr Gallagher back and the deceased fell.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of eight men and four women.
