The Central Criminal Court has heard a man was stabbed to death in Dublin’s south inner city after trying to break up a fight at a Halloween bonfire.

Today, a teenage boy pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Lorcan O’Reilly last year, and he is due to be sentenced in February.

The boy was just shy of his 15th birthday when he stabbed Mr O’Reilly following a row at a bonfire at the Oliver Bond flats complex in Dublin last year.

The boy, who was holding a hurley, confronted Mr O’Reilly when he tried to stop a fight between two other men.

A row broke out and the boy left the scene to get a knife, which he used to stab the 21-year-old in the chest and face with.

Only a handful of the 19 people taken in for questioning were willing to give statements to gardaí and the court heard there were concerns for their “vulnerability, safety and welfare”.

The incident was captured on CCTV but gardaí were unable to make a positive identification.

The boy was arrested in March but refused to answer questions.

He was charged with murder the following month, but his plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter was accepted this afternoon and his sentencing has been put back until next year to allow for various reports to be carried out.