1987 in Northern Ireland explained

Events during the year 1987 in Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

• Secretary of State - Tom King

Events

• 8 May - Loughgall ambush: The British Army Special Air Service (SAS) kills 8 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) members and a civilian in an ambush at Loughgall.
• 3 July - Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand become the first people to complete a transatlantic flight in a hot air balloon^[1] aboard the balloon Virgin Atlantic Flyer, first touching down in Northern Ireland.^[2]
• 8 November - Remembrance Day bombing: 11 civilians are killed in an IRA explosion during a Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen.
• 5 December - Downpatrick & Ardglass Railway begins public operation, the first Irish gauge heritage railway in Ireland.^[3]

Arts and literature

• Ciarán Carson's The Irish for No poetry collection is published and wins the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award.

Sport

Football

• Irish League

Winners: Linfield

• Irish Cup

Winners: Glentoran 1 - 0 Larne

• Warrenpoint Town F.C. formed.

Motorcycling

• Robert Dunlop wins the 125cc, 350cc and 1000cc races at the Cookstown 100 to be named “Man of the Meeting”.

Births

• 2 January - Daryl Fordyce, footballer.
• 21 February - Carl Frampton, boxer.
• 2 March - Jonathan Rea, motorcycle racer.
• 4 July - Jason Smyth, paralympian sprinter.
• 29 August - Tony Kane, footballer.
• 16 September - Kyle Lafferty, international soccer player.
• 17 September - Greg Thompson, cricketer.
• 6 October - Michael O'Connor, footballer.
• 25 October - Darron Gibson, footballer.

Deaths

• 27 April - Maurice Gibson, judge (born 1913).
• 7 May - Colin Blakely, actor (born 1930).
• 8 May - Patrick Joseph Kelly, Commander of the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade, killed by Special Air Service at Loughgall (born 1957).
• 22 June - John Hewitt, poet (born 1907).
• 3 December - George Seawright, Loyalist politician.
• 22 December - John McMichael, leading Ulster Defence Association member, killed in car bomb attack.

Full date unknown

• Alan Barnes, architect.
• Jimmy Warnock, boxer (born 1912).

See also

• 1987 in England
• 1987 in Scotland
• 1987 in Wales

Notes and References

1. News: Today in History. Express. Washington, D.C.. 2012-07-03. 32.
2. News: Balloon crosses Atlantic. Pittsburgh Press. 1987-07-05. A4. 2014-05-29.
3. Book: Cochrane, Gerry. Back in Steam: the Downpatrick and County Down Railway from 1982. Newtownards. Colourpoint. 2009. 978-1-906578-29-9. 95.