A priest is defending his parish after a topless brawl between two women in Doon made national headlines.

The story first appeared in last week’s Limerick Leader, which reported that two women were arrested after the incident on Monastery Road at 9.15am on a Friday morning.

An eye witness said the women were “down on the ground on top of each other”.

“Biting, scratching, pulling hair, kicking, everything, you name it. The next thing the tops were pulled off each other and then a bra went flying through the air.

“You would think that this would have stopped them – but not a bit of it, they kept at it,” said the witness.

The story has remained the number one viewed story on the Limerick Leader website since it was published online last week.

Fr Tony Ryan, the Doon parish priest, said the entire community is appalled by the incident and that everyone is united in “anger and sadness and grief."

Fr Ryan told the Limerick Leader that the incident could have led to serious injuries as well as causing a lot of grief and sadness.

Despite recently losing its garda station, library, Fr Ryan said Doon is making tremendous progress.

“Our new secondary school is scheduled to open in February 2014 with state-of-the-art accommodation for over 800 students. Our community centre has been recently refurbished and a lot of money was raised locally.

“Our GAA club have achieved excellent results and are already in the quarter-finals of the senior championship. At all levels the GAA club is going well and we are shortly to host the Westmeath champions in Feile Na nGael.

“The camogie club, like so many other local organisations, is flourishing presently and we are looking forward to the Gathering in September in conjunction with the annual vintage festival,” said Fr Ryan, who has been the parish priest in Doon since 2004.

Two women and one man have been arrested and questioned over the incident.