The teenage son of murdered crime boss Kieran Keane was the intended target of the latest gun attack in Limerick city, it has emerged.
Gardaí in Limerick remain on a state of high alert following Monday night's failed assassination attempt.
Concerns are mounting that this latest attack could spark a fresh outbreak of violence in the feud that has claimed at least four lives in recent years.
Mr Joseph Keane was among a group of friends standing outside a fast-food outlet in the Garryowen area of the city when the attack happened shortly after 7 p.m. on Monday.
At least two shots were discharged by a pillion passenger on a motorbike.
The attack happened just 50 yards from the intended victim's family home where he lives with his widowed mother.
No one was struck in the attack but one of the bullets lodged in a car owned by the proprietor of the fast-food outlet.
Eyewitness reports suggest that moments earlier a car carrying several people had pulled up outside the chip shop and that the occupants may have tipped off the gunman that Mr Keane was in the area.
No arrests have been made in connection with the incident, but gardaí were maintaining a visible presence across the city in anticipation of possible reprisals.
A chief suspect is a well-known member of a south-side criminal gang with a reputation for violence, and who has become embroiled in the Limerick feud.
The attack follows a period of heightened tension between the feuding sides in recent weeks.
"This is a very worrying development. It is only luck that prevented someone being killed last night, and we have to be aware of the possibility that more incidents may follow," said a Garda source.
It was the sixth gun attack in the city in the last week.
Kieran Keane was murdered in January of last year at Drombana, on the outskirts of Limerick, after he was abducted along with his nephew, Mr Owen Treacy.