A man has been jailed for 13 years today for killing teenager Niall Dorr 2 years ago.

37-year-old Douglas Ward from Loughantarve in Knockbridge pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the 18-year-old on the night of October 14th 2010.

The Central Criminal Court heard the teenager was punched and kicked after he tried to act as a peacemaker when a row broke out outside a house party in Dundalk.

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.

Father says attack was 'stuff of animals'

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'.

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.

Niall's father David Dorr spoke outside court this morning.