On Sunday evening a conflict took place between the fishermen on the river above Thomond-bridge, Limerick, which at one time threatened very serious consequences. It appears that since the interruption to their fishing at the Island point some of the long net fishermen procured short or snap nets, and commenced fishing lower down the river. The short net men did not like this intrusion, and it would appear that no amicable feeling prevailed between the parties. After nine o’clock in the evening the short net men put out their nets, when the others attacked them; the boats fouled each other, the men commenced to fight, and some stones were thrown over the parapet of the bridge which did injury to the cots of the short net men. The presence of Constable Frawley and some of the police tended somewhat to repress their disposition to violence, but it is apprehended that further and more serious collisions may take place between the parties.
Saunders’s News-Letter 15 June 1855
Irish waterways history 