IRA losing a war they started for hearts and minds

Before his fight with Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor had a profile pieceon his upbringing written by the legendary Wright Thompson of ESPN. It was an exciting, extreme, probably embellished picture of his life and of Crumlin life but it drew widespread criticism in Dublin because of how deadly and chaotic the area was made out to be for a global audience to read. It's hard to say that Thompson took liberties though, or even exaggerated. It could simply have been a case of a man from a different country landing in Crumlin for the first time and talking to the locals about the gangs, the drugs and the fights. He was being shown grenade marks and pointed out where the divide was and where you shouldn't go and, if you were never exposed to that place or that story before, the American's dramatic retelling of it all could genuinely have been his thinking that it's just wild country.

With a fresher eye and heavier heart, the graffiti, the flags, the slogans and images decorating Creggan make the place feel like it's stuck in a time warp and if tourists think that the murals in the Bogside are interesting, they should walk up to the top of that hill where they'd get an authentic, current-day insight into the Troubles, half a century after they broke out and ripped the north apart.

To be honest, I always felt uncomfortable about those defiant statements that are made just hours after a tragedy has befallen a town. People are killed and it seems like a rush, even if it's with good intentions, to show that whatever city we're talking about won't be brought to its knees. I understand the sentiment and maybe it's a powerful message but someone is dead and I generally think it best to let the family grieve and be respectful of that for at least a few days before we're told that we're all going to stick out our chests and just get on with it.

When the love for Derry started pouring in, my initial thought was 'piss off'. This isn't the time to be pointing out how great Derry is or how friendly its people are because Derry is the place that allowed this fire to be fuelled and Derry is the place where Lyra McKee needlessly lost her important life. Now, Derry will forever be synonymous with her family in Belfast as the town that took her in her prime in exhange for a damned apology from the IRA who used the same statementto the Irish News to peddle their reasons for violence.

The opposition were told to beware of the risen people but the majority of the town has risen in direct response and they've risen as one.

'IRA are done' is now what oversees the Creggan shops where the teenagers gather. A brave act, a powerful statement.

The dissident murals in the Bog' have been x'd out and the town has spoken together that this 'deployment' against 'British forces' are 'not in my name'.

When the first rally was planned after the shooting, BBC journalist Ciaran O'Neill saidthat it shouldn't be the same voices and politicans on stage. "We need to hear from young people and friends of Lyra’s. Their voices will have much more of an impact."

What has happened in the following week has sent shockwaves through the town and country. Lyra's partner Sara led the way with that heartbreaking speech in front of a huge crowd that turned out to condemn the murder, and her friends followed her in a show of proper courage and genuine defiance by dipping their hands in red pant and leaving their marks in memory of Lyra on the office of a Dissident Republican group.

At the funeral, Father Martin Magill looked Arlene Foster, Michelle O'Neill and Mary Lou McDonald square in the eyes and asked "why in God's name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman to get to this point?"

There might be no-one standing in Stormont at present to affect change or to be the voice of the divided communities but the people of Derry are taking their own stand in the absence of any tangible help from its politicians.

Above the Free Derry Corner, planted across the famous Walls looking down on Fahan Street, it still says that the IRA are here to stay. The slogan can be seen as far up as the top of the Brandywell and from the bottom of Creggan and it's there in the skyline looking out from anywhere along the Lone Moor Road.

There might always be a faction there dedicated to fighting any British occupation with violence but, now, the IRA graffiti is no longer blending in to parts of the Derry streets, accepted by passers-by. Now, no-one's numb to it.

For the first time, those messages and their intentions are being challenged

There was once a time when you wouldn't allow yourself to even think about defacing or just touching anything to do with an IRA symbol or slogan. In Creggan now, in the Bogside, they're attacking those messages.

Things have changed this week and not in the way that was intended when shots were fired.

The people have risen alright but they've risen together in plain sight to condemn the violence.

Now, Up the Ra isn't so funny anymore.