A mobile phone snatch by a teenage boy after the 2001 All-Ireland hurling semi-final led to an off-duty garda being seriously injured by a gang of youths, the Dublin Children's Court heard yesterday.
On leaving Croke Park, two gardaí saw the phone being snatched.
When they apprehended a boy a gang of teenagers intervened, allowing him to escape.
One of the officers was badly beaten as the youths set upon him, the court was told.
Judge Geoffrey Browne heard that a 17-year-old youth had pleaded guilty to two charges of larceny and escaping custody.
When a spectator pulled out his mobile phone on leaving Croke Park after the match the boy snatched it from him and ran, Garda Fergal O'Flaherty, Store Street, told the court.
Two off-duty gardaí were also in the crowd leaving Croke Park and spotted the boy taking the phone.
They gave chase and followed the boy to Seán O'Casey Avenue where they caught him and recovered the phone.
He put up a struggle and a group of youths pounced on the gardaí as the boy was being arrested.
Both gardaí were attacked and one suffered serious injuries, the court was told.
The teenager, who stole the phone and escaped when the gardaí were attacked, had five previous convictions.
In November 2000 he was detained for one month for larceny from the person.
Two months previously he was convicted of burglary and failing to comply with the directions of a garda.
He was given the benefit of the Probation Act earlier for interfering with the mechanism of a car.
Judge Browne said that because the teenager had been given chances before, and due to the seriousness of the charges, he would have to impose a custodial sentence.
However, the boy's defence counsel pleaded strenuously for him to be given bail pending a probation and welfare service report. Judge Browne acceded to the application and allowed the boy home on bail until sentencing on February 26th.
He warned the boy he was considering imposing a six-month sentence, which would be handed down unless he showed he had changed his ways.
Earlier, the court was told the youths involved in the attack on the garda had been charged with assault causing serious harm and would be sent forward to the Circuit Criminal Court for trial.