There would be no celebrations, no hero's welcome. Such was the mood in south Mayo last night as Pádraig Nally headed home to his farm at Funshinagh outside Cross after Thursday's acquittal for manslaughter in the Central Criminal Court.
"We haven't planned any homecoming," his friend and Pádraig Nally Support Group spokesman Paddy Rock told The Irish Times.
"This is not a time to celebrate, as there is a grieving family out there and it just would not be appropriate."
In the neighbouring villages of Cross and Headford, people were loath to comment and appeared to be far more concerned about the continuing rain and consequent heavy flooding which has forced closure of the Ballinrobe road to The Neale and adjoining routes.
Lands around south Mayo and north Galway have been saturated by weeks of rain, transforming fields into lakes, and rivers and streams into torrent - the antithesis of the Indian summer conditions prevailing when Mr Nally shot and killed John Ward on October 14th, 2004.
Chief Supt Tony McNamara, head of the Mayo Garda division, confirmed that the gardaí did intend to speak to Mr Nally over the weekend. "We will see how he feels and offer him the services of a Garda crime prevention officer," he said.
"It is purely a precautionary measure, and we do offer advice on security in most cases where people may feel vulnerable, but there is no specific threat in this case."
Fr Colm Kilcoyne, parish priest in Cong, which also covers Cross and The Neale, said that he plans to refer to the situation in a prayer of the faithful at weekend Mass, and his focus would be on "trying to bring healing, rather than taking sides".
"I would know Pádraig Nally as a very typical, quiet, decent country man, and in a month of Sundays he never set out to have the ending that faced him that day," Fr Kilcoyne said.
"People like him should not feel that they have to do what they did, and there is an issue of protecting the vulnerable, but our sympathies must go to the Ward family.
"Pádraig Nally and John Ward had a lot in common, in that both are members of vulnerable groups," Fr Kilcoyne said.
"Both of these groups need help and protection, and they don't need to be set against each other and seen as enemies.
"It is a classic situation where such groups are pitted against each other when the real problem is the overall atmosphere in the State. That's why I would feel that comments about the judgment being a 'licence to kill' is inflammatory talk and doesn't help the situation."
Ann Costello of the Galway Travellers' Movement said that she had received a number of very shocked calls from members of the Travelling community.
Bernard Sweeney of the Mayo-based Travellers for Travellers group said that he was "bitterly disappointed".
Mr Ward had been killed "like an animal", and if he had not been a Traveller, he believed the outcome might have been very different.
