{"id":263078,"date":"2026-10-19T12:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T11:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/realt-na-mara-an-pheil-na-triobloidi-agus-an-iarmhairt\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T12:32:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T11:32:43","slug":"star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/","title":{"rendered":"Star of the Sea &#8211; The Football, The Troubles, and the Aftermath"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/d1og0s8nlbd0hm.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/19122339\/Realt_na_Mara_2-1920x1080-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-263074\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d1og0s8nlbd0hm.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/19122339\/Realt_na_Mara_2-1920x1080-1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/d1og0s8nlbd0hm.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/19122339\/Realt_na_Mara_2-1920x1080-1-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/d1og0s8nlbd0hm.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/19122339\/Realt_na_Mara_2-1920x1080-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d1og0s8nlbd0hm.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/19122339\/Realt_na_Mara_2-1920x1080-1-250x141.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BQ5PIFrYjlc\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nR\u00e9alt na Mara &#8211; An Pheil, Na Triobl\u00f3id\u00ed agus An Iarmhairt is the feature documentary debut from director James Wynne and was produced with the support of TG4 and Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nIn 1960s Belfast, Star of the Sea was one of Ireland\u2019s most successful youth football teams, bringing Catholic and Protestant players together at a time of growing division. But as the Troubles took hold, the team was torn apart and the lives of its players changed forever.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe documentary explores how sectarianism tore the team apart and examines the tragic aftermath from the perspective of players including Raymond McCord, Denis Sweeney, Geordie Hussey and Dessie Black, who, despite shunning sectarianism, were nonetheless impacted by the Troubles in profoundly different ways.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nR\u00e9alt na Mara (Star of the Sea) tells the story of the extraordinary journeys of those former teammates, including Raymond McCord, who went from being a football prodigy who had trials with Manchester United to becoming one of Northern Ireland\u2019s most prominent victims\u2019 rights campaigners following the 1997 murder of his son, Raymond McCord Jr.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nThree of their former teammates later became involved with paramilitary organisations. Bobby Sands joined the IRA and died during the 1981 hunger strike. Michael Acheson and Terry Nicholl joined the UVF and later served prison sentences in the Maze.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nDenis Sweeney narrowly avoided becoming a victim of a pub bombing, an experience that influenced his decision to become a doctor. Tommy O\u2019Neill, a close childhood friend of Bobby Sands, saw his life profoundly affected by the upheaval of the Troubles and died while still in his 30s.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nCommenting on the announcement of the TG4 broadcast, <strong>the film\u2019s director, James Wynne<\/strong>, said:<br \/>\n<em>\u201cI was fascinated by this story, mainly because the original ethos of the Star of the Sea Youth Club in the 1960s is what we are seeing more of today as Northern Ireland navigates a fragile peace. These players represented the ideal but were nonetheless massively impacted by the Troubles. Despite all of the chaos, violence, and darkness they endured, to see someone like Raymond McCord emerge as a leading victims\u2019 campaigner is nothing short of inspiring. I hope this story compels us to do everything we can to always protect peace on our island.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<em>R\u00e9alt na Mara &#8211; An Pheil, Na Triobl\u00f3id\u00ed agus An Iarmhairt<\/em> premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in July of this year and will be broadcast on <strong>TG4 on Tuesday, 20 October at 9:30pm<\/strong>.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; R\u00e9alt na Mara &#8211; An Pheil, Na Triobl\u00f3id\u00ed agus An Iarmhairt is the feature documentary debut from director James Wynne and was produced with the support of TG4 and Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n. &nbsp; In 1960s Belfast, Star of the Sea was one of Ireland\u2019s most successful youth football teams, bringing Catholic and Protestant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":876,"featured_media":0,"parent":248746,"menu_order":72,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/template-pr.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Star of the Sea - The Football, The Troubles, and the Aftermath | Press Release | TG4<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Star of the Sea - The Football, The Troubles, and the Aftermath | Press Release | TG4\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; R\u00e9alt na Mara &#8211; An Pheil, Na Triobl\u00f3id\u00ed agus An Iarmhairt is the feature documentary debut from director James Wynne and was produced with the support of TG4 and Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n. &nbsp; In 1960s Belfast, Star of the Sea was one of Ireland\u2019s most successful youth football teams, bringing Catholic and Protestant [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TG4\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TG4TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-19T11:32:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Realt_na_Mara_2-1920x1080-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TG4TV\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/\",\"name\":\"Star of the Sea - The Football, The Troubles, and the Aftermath | Press Release | TG4\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/ga\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Realt_na_Mara_2-1920x1080-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-19T11:24:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-19T11:32:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-ie\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ie\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Realt_na_Mara_2-1920x1080-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Realt_na_Mara_2-1920x1080-1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/star-of-the-sea-the-football-the-troubles-and-the-aftermath\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Information\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Press\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Press Releases\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"2026\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/en\/information\/press\/press-releases\/2026-2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":6,\"name\":\"Star of the Sea &#8211; 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