The Auxiliaries and the previously introduced Black and Tans rapidly became highly unpopular in Ireland due to intimidation of the civilian population and arbitrary reprisals after IRA actions – including burnings of businesses and homes , beatings and killings . A week before the Kilmichael ambush , after IRA assassinations of British intelligence operatives in Dublin on Bloody Sunday , Auxiliaries fired on players and spectators at a Gaelic football match in Croke Park Dublin , killing fourteen civilians ( thirteen spectators and one player )
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1920)
Kilmichael Ambush