Broken Dreams

No Edit with Patricia Devlin

In the mid 1990s, Donal Gray was a rising star on the football scene.

Gaining caps for the Northern Ireland youth squad, he played in the Irish League before his talent saw him signed in Scotland where he had the chance to play against his heroes.

But his dream of playing professional football was cruelly taken away when, in 1996, the then 19 year-old was subjected to a brutal paramilitary assault in the front garden of his Co Down home.

Up to 10 masked men attacked the teenager with cudgels, pickaxes and iron bars. His legs were so severely broken, doctors said he would never play football again.

The so-called punishment beating was carried out by members of the Provisional IRA. The press reported at the time how the rising football star was the 400th victim of the republican paramilitary group's brutal assaults.

In this episode, Donal talks about the attack, and the long, hard road to both physical and mental recovery.

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