The Boys who ran away to New York. In 1985 two boys from Darndale in Dublin, Keith Byrne (10) and Noel Murray(13), both made headlines around the world when they hopped onaDart and ended up in New York escaping authorities in three countries. Keith Byrne said that he and his friend went to the United States becausehe wanted to see his favourite television star, Mr T fromThe A-Team. Their adventure started when they went out to play before dinner time, Keithsaid in an RTÉ Radio documentary: “My mum said: ‘don’t go far, your dinner’s nearly ready,’ ”he recalled. “I said: ‘I won’t.” But they did. They took the Dart to Dún Laoghaire and snuck on to a ferryto Holyhead. Emboldened by their success, they avoided the ticketcheckers and got on a train to London. Eventually they wound up atHeathrow airport with nothing but a few coins they’d nicked from a charity fountain. Once there they asked a random passenger where his plane was going and hetold them New York. They told the ticket checker and security their parentswere behind them, and boarded an Air India plane. “The plane was only half full so no one came near us,” he said. Their easeat slipping past the authorities was even more surprising given thefact that, two months earlier, an Air India jet had blown up off thesouthwest of Ireland, killing 329 people. Byrne recalled being unable to eat a very hot Indian curry and watchingthe James Bond film A View To A Kill. Their journey came to an end when they left JFK airport and asked a policemanfor the way “into town”. They were taken to a police station wherethey immediately became the centre of attention. Authorities weretaking no chances and they were put in a hotel suite with five securityguards. “There was BLTs, chips, everything, fed us like lords. We loved it,” Keith said. Their exploits made the front page of the New York newspapers. Keith Byrne is now 47 and Noel Murray is 50. Both live in Darndale.