REFUSED TO SURRENDER FLAG IN BELFAST

Refused to surrender flag in Belfast
Leinster Leader 2 July 1968

A lady who caused a minor sensation in Belfast when she successfully resisted the attempts of an R.U.C. constable to take from her a tri-colour she carried in Belfast, is back in her native Ballitore. The lady, then Miss Kathleen Mackey, and now Mrs. Luce, is over from England with her husband, Mr. Doug Luce, and their young daughter, on a visit to her sister, Miss Margaret Mackey, The Cross, Ballitore.
At the time of the flag incident she was a member of the Co. Kildare camogie team that had gone to Belfast to play a representative match. The Kildare players and supporters were marching through Falls Road on the way to the playing grounds when the police stopped them. After a constable had failed to wrest the Irish flag from her, the march to the grounds continued without further interruption.
During her camogie career she played for Ballitore Club, which was then the best in the county. She is a sister of Messrs. Chris and Willie Mackey, Ballitore, Patrick Mackey, Offaly, and Peter Mackey, England, as well as of Mrs. Elizabeth Byrne, Dublin. Another sister, Mary, lives in England.

From the Leinster Leader of 1968 – A Kildare lady caused a minor sensation in Belfast when she successfully resisted the attempts of an RUC constable to take her a tri-colour.