Todd Andrews was part of the IRA group that carried out this raid. He recalls walking a mile from Brighton Square to the Charlemont Street Bridge at the canal. Here he met Francis X, Coughlan, Hubert Earle, and James Kenny at about 8.55am. Joe Dolan and Dan McDonnell led the team. Their mission was to kill Noble, and his lady, who were both believed to be responsible for the death of an IRA man called Doyle in the Dublin Mountains.
They pushed past the teenage girl who opened the door and walked straight up to the front first floor room where they expected to find Noble. He was not there but they found a woman in the bed. Noble had left on a mission at 7am, and they had no orders to shoot the woman if she was alone, so they left. They nearly shot another lodger on the way out, but luckily for him Coghlan recognised the man as the source of their intelligence from that house.
Dolan beat the woman with a sword scabbard, and set for to the room in his frustration. It took the IRA squad half an hour to put the flames out