Student Brian Murphy received a "flying kick" from a youth in a beige top who then told his friends "this is great craic", a witness has told the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Wexford man Mr Paul Mooney said that he first witnessed a youth in a red shirt punch the person in the beige top in the face but he did not react to it.
The person in the red top then swung two more punches but he did not connect with either.
Mr Mooney told Mr Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, that the person on the receiving end looked confident when he was punched before walking away.
The witness said: "He looked pretty smug and confident when he was punched. I got the impression that his reaction indicated that he could take the guy in the red top if he wanted to."
Mr Mooney added that he was looking at the guy in beige when he was walking away and when he turned back he saw the guy in red on the ground being kicked by "definitely three people, possibly a fourth".
The youth in beige then returned and ran into the middle of the group giving a "flying kick" to the youth on the ground. He only kicked him once before he ran back out.
When the witness was shown the beige fleece jumper that Mr Sean Mackey, one of the accused, was wearing on the night he said it was similar to the one the person he saw was wearing. He also identified the red shirt that Mr Murphy was wearing on the night he died outside the Burlington Hotel.
Mr Mooney said that when the kicking had stopped the guy in the red got to his feet, looking quite dazed. He took a couple of steps forward before he did a semi-circle and fell on his face.
A friend of Mr Murphy's then came over and shouted: "Look what you've done. Don't you see what you've done?".
Mr Mooney told Mr Anthony Sammon SC, for Mr Mackey, in cross-examination, that the flying kick he saw landing on Mr Murphy connected with his waist or near the top of the legs. Another witness, Mr Fiachra O'Brien, told the court that he saw a person he believed to be Mr Andrew Frame, another accused, deliver a running punch to Mr Murphy and he fell to the ground. About five or six people then began kicking him.
Mr O'Brien said the kicking lasted for about 20 seconds but he couldn't see who was involved. After it stopped there was still some fighting going on in the area but people ran to Mr Murphy's aid but he did not seem to be responding.
Mr O'Brien said he did not know Mr Frame personally but knew he played rugby for Blackrock College and the last time he would have seen him would have been on a rugby pitch within the year prior to Mr Murphy's death.
He said: "There seemed to be just an explosion of fighting after the punch I saw. I think I described in my statement that Andrew Frame was wearing a blue shirt on the night and had light brown hair."
Mr O'Brien told Mr Hugh Hartnett SC, for Mr Frame, in cross-examination, that he drank six cans of beer in his flat before he went out, one pint in Madigan's pub in Donnybrook and then five or six bottles of Smirnoff Ice and possibly some shots in Club Anabel. He admitted that he was drunk and he had told the gardaí that. Mr Hartnett put it to the witness that he hadn't mentioned in the first of his two statements that he saw Mr Frame delivering a running punch and also that his client was not wearing a blue shirt on the night.
The witness said he just presumed that he had said it in his first statement and disagreed with Mr Harnett that his second statement was made after his "memory was polluted by having conversations with others".
He said: "If he was wasn't wearing a blue shirt then he wasn't. I couldn't be certain. I told the gardaí that at the time I had difficulty describing anybody. I believed the person I saw to be Andrew Frame but it was dark." Another witness, Ms Caroline Croke, told the court that she saw Mr Mackey receive a blow to the back of the head from a guy in the red shirt and he then punched him back. She turned away and when she looked back a large group ran from behind her and began to attack the guy in the red shirt on the ground.
She said she then saw Mr Mackey walking away with a mobile phone in his hand. Ms Croke said she also saw Mr Dermot Laide, another accused, standing at the entrance of the Burlington Hotel looking over to where some people were tending to Mr Murphy.
She said he licked the back of his hand, as if it was cut, and he flinched. The trial continues.