The Central Criminal Court has heard a Dundalk teenager was punched, kicked and stamped on in a brawl that 'went too far, with appalling and tragic consequences'.

37-year-old Douglas Ward from Loughantarve, Knockbridge in Co. Louth is to be sentenced on Friday for the manslaughter of Niall Dorr at Castle Road on the night of October 14th 2010.

The 18-year-old was killed while trying to keep the peace in a brawl between his friends and another group outside a house party.

Mr. Ward - drunk and on bail - was drawn into the fight and laid into the teenager, banging his head off the road and kicking him until he was like a rag doll.

Mr. Dorr, a world silver-medallist in kickboxing, did not fight back.

In a victim impact statement his father David Dorr called his son 'a class act', with a 'huge heart' and said it was not natural for a child to be gone before their parents.

He said there were tears in his eyes when Niall was born, weighing 6lbs and 9ozs in November 1991 and that he did not cry again for 18 years and 48 weeks at his son's death.

On his way to joining the army

The court heard the teenager's ambition was to join the army and that on the day of his death he had attended an interview in Dublin with the defence forces which he thought had gone very well.

His father described the dreadful night in the hospital when they were told by doctors there was little they could do for Niall who changed lives for the better by donating his organs to 5 people, one of whom described him in a heart-wrenching letter as an 'unknown angel'.

David Dorr said he hopes when Niall's attacker, a father of 3, looks at his own children, he will think of the young man he killed, and added: 'are we filled with hate for those who brought this to our door? Maybe, but we'll rise above it''.

Douglas Ward was originally charged with the teenager's murder but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) accepted his plea to manslaughter on the first day of his trial last October.

The defence has said the 37-year-old has stayed sober in custody and is now deeply sorry, disturbed and guilt-stricken by the havoc he has visited on the Dorr's and his own family.

Brendan Grehan, SC, for the DPP, submitted that this crime was at the upper-end of the scale for manslaughter.

Mr. Justice Paul Carney will finalise sentencing on Friday morning.