Fatal stabbing of Irish woman at Queens bar came after she’d lived with suspect boyfriend a year: cops

Rocco Parascandola, Ellen Moynihan, New York Daily News
Updated ·2 min read

The bartender fatally stabbed at a Queens pub on Saturday evening was attacked by her boyfriend holding knives in both hands, police said Monday. The couple had lived together in Glendale for about a year, said cops.

Sarah McNally, 41, had also been a bartender in her native Longford, Ireland, and worked as a civil employee for the Irish Prison Service, which is headquartered in the county, said Martin Monaghan, chairman of the municipal district in Longford Town.

“She’s been in the States for about 10 years at the minute,” he told the Daily News by phone on Monday.

Officers responded to a 911 call at Ceili House on Grand Ave. near 69th Lane in Maspeth around 6:35 p.m., according to police.

Inside, they discovered McNally with a stab wound to her neck and a 36-year-old man with a stab wound to his back and neck, cops said.

Medics rushed the pair to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where they were both initially in critical condition. The woman later died.

According to Irish broadcaster RTÉ, a parliament member serving Longford called her a “wonderful young woman, bright, vivacious, witty and charismatic”.

Joe Flaherty, the parliament member, said the murder was “tragic and deeply upsetting news”.

“By all accounts, it was a very happy life and everything was going well for her in New York, which makes this news all the more harrowing and upsetting for people that know her,” Flaherty said on RTÉ.

Flaherty also said McNally’s mother was flying to New York.

“I cannot imagine a worse call for a parent to get,” he said. “It’s truly traumatic, and I understand her heartbroken mother is flying out to be with Sarah this morning, and that’s a journey that no parent wants to have to undertake.”

Mourners gathered outside Ceili House on Sunday couldn’t make sense of the violence that had taken place the night before.

“I can’t even picture it,” said bar patron Mike Green. “I know them, and I still can’t believe it.”

The suspect is in custody as he recovers in the hospital and has not been charged, police sources said.