A LEADING Limerick gangster has warned of all-out war in which "the streets are going to see blood pour".

Thug Jimmy Collins declared that “just because a rugby player got killed” there was a “fuss” being made by gardai and the public.

And in a chilling prediction, the tattooed 41-year-old senior member of the Dundon-McCarthy gang stated: “Only the funeral parlours will do well out this for years to come.”

Collins, a convicted drug dealer, declared that the feud, which resulted in the callous murder of innocent Garryowen rugby player Shane Geoghegan, will never end.

His comments come amid an outpouring of revulsion over the gunning down of the 28-year-old in a case of mistaken identity.

He was shot nine times with a Glock semi-automatic 9mm pistol when he tried to run from his killer hours after watching a rugby match with friends.

Target

Mr Geoghegan was hit three times in the upper body and once in the head, after being mistaken for the intended target – gangster Johnny McNamara, linked with the Keane/Collopy gang.

Collins, himself the victim of an assassination attempt this year, also claimed his own family in Ballincurra Weston was suffering from “harassment” since Mr Geoghegan's death.

“It was wrong, I'm sorry for his death”, he said.

“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“But I didn't kill him and I'm getting my house battered in and my family harassed for it.

“Just because a rugby player gets killed, there's holy war.

Killed

“There was never any of this fuss when my friends were getting killed and some were just as innocent.”

At least 14 people have been killed in the bloody feud raging between rival factions the Dundon/McCarthys, the Keane/Collopys and the Ryans, who have been vying for control of the mid west's drugs trade.

The violence began in earnest eight years ago with the killing of drug dealer Eddie Ryan.

“It's not about the drugs why this is happening,” Collins insisted. “It's just that we hate each other's guts. They don't respect us so we're not going to respect them.

“This started with fists more than 20 years ago, it moved on to stabbings and went from there to executions, people getting killed not because they'd done anything but just to get at the families. I can't see it ever ending.

“I took part in peace talks only weeks ago, I shook hands with the men who tried to kill me.

Funeral

“But that's over. Only the funeral parlours will do well out of this for years to come.”

Collins himself was blasted with a machine gun in a previous attack on his house.

“It's a war now and the streets are going to see blood pour,” he predicted.

- Andrew Phelan