Schoolboy fights for life after attack
Schoolboy fights for life after attack
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A 17-year-old schoolboy is critically ill in hospital after being beaten in a sectarian attack in Antrim.

The Catholic teenager, named locally as Jordan Duffy, was walking with friends early yesterday when a three-strong gang confronted them in the Station Road area of the town on Friday, not far from the PSNI station.

It is understood the gang asked the three friends where they were coming from and when they named a pub in nationalist Magherafelt, they were chased.

Two of the teenage friends escaped but the gang caught Jordan and attacked him, leaving him with serious head injuries and several fractures.

He was taken to Antrim Area Hospital and later transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where his condition was described as critical. It is understood he has regained consciousness but has struggled to communicate with his family.

A talented sportsman, he had been due to play football for St Comgall’s Gaelic club on Saturday.

Sinn Fein councillor Noel Maguire said the latest “brutal sectarian attack” had left an “innocent young Catholic seriously ill in hospital”. He appealed for calm and urged people not to retaliate.

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