The beginning of the end of Mary Ryan's week of hell came just before 3 a.m. yesterday.
At a phone box in Portlaoise her two sons, Eddie (20) and 19-year-old Kieran, phoned gardaí in the Co Laois town to break the sensational news that they were alive and well after having been held against their will for seven days following their abduction in Limerick city last Thursday.
Just moments before making the call they had been released by their captor's.
Gardaí immediately alerted the men's distraught mother, Mary, through a relative. Yesterday she said she could not believe her sons had come home to her.
"I didn't think I would ever see my children alive again and I thank God and my mother and father and my husband in heaven for bringing them home" she said.
When the men finally arrived at their Hogan Avenue home in Kileely, they were greeted by a large party of family and well wishers who cheered when they walked into the front yard.
"I am just happy to be alive and to see my whole family especially my baby daughter" said Kieran.
When asked where he had been all week he said he did not know because he had been "covered up". He also said he had been threatened by his abductors and that was why he was saying no more.
"I got threatened and I am not going to talk to no-one about it. I've been threatened not to talk to no-one" he said.
Cuddling his four-month-old daughter Kelsey, who was due to be christened this weekend, the 19-year-old said he feared he was going to be killed. "From the time I got taken to the time I got home I thought I was going to be dead."
"I am just so happy to be home. We are going to get drunk and celebrate".
The Ryan family home, a modest dwelling in a working class suburb of north Limerick, is distinguishable from neighbours' homes by its ornate decorations and two massive Christmas Snowman and Santa decorations which are still hanging on its chimney.
The house is also the only one on the street with an extension to the front and a cobbled driveway.
In the hours before their homecoming the men were driven before daybreak across the midlands to Henry Street garda station in Limerick city where they were reunited with their mother at around 6 a.m.
Mrs Ryan, whose husband Eddie was murdered in 2000, had given up hope of ever seeing her sons alive again and in recent days had been appealing for the return of their remain's if nothing else.
Hopes they were still alive had faded to such an extent in Limerick that the garda sub-aqua unit had been drafted in to help in the search for the men. It was a clear sign, if one were needed, that the week-long army and garda search for the men had become a search for bodies.
Yesterday the Ryan family home in Kileely was almost unrecognisable from the scene which had become familiar since the men were taken.
All week sober faced and crying neighbours, friends and family members formed a steady flow in and out of the house to offer their support to Mary Ryan. But yesterday at the Ryan home the party was in full swing.
Yesterday the Ryan's young sister Serena said the whole family was "just thrilled" that her brothers were home "in one piece".
"When the news came in it was a shock but a great shock. It is great to have them back, but they are very tired after it all. But we never really thought it was going to happen so we are all just delighted".
She said the gardaí had first alerted her aunt that the boys had been freed and in turn she had broken the news to Mrs Ryan.
Serena Ryan said her brother, Kieran, spent some of the day with his partner and baby daughter in another suburb of Limerick. The rest of the day had been taken up by resting in bed but most of all enjoying themselves with their friends.
Father Michael O'Shea from St Munchin's parish visited the Ryan home yesterday and said the family was looking forward to putting the ordeal behind them. However, he cautioned that their return was unlikely to bring an end to the feuding between and Ryan's and their associates and other gangs in the city.
"Both groups will have to talk, sit down and be realistic with each other. That simply has to happen if we are to get an end to this. But it will be difficult."
As night fell on Limerick armed detectives in special branch cars could be seen driving past opposite ends of the street where the Ryans live - a stark reminder of the serious danger the family faces as their feud with rival families continues.
