1987 in Northern Ireland

Events during the year 1987 in Northern Ireland.

Incumbents

 * Secretary of State - Tom King

Events

 * 8 May - Loughgall ambush: The British Army Special Air Service (SAS) kills 8 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) members and a civilian in an ambush at Loughgall.
 * 3 July - Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand become the first people to complete a transatlantic flight in a hot air balloon aboard the balloon Virgin Atlantic Flyer, first touching down in Northern Ireland.
 * 8 November - Remembrance Day bombing: 11 civilians are killed in an IRA explosion during a Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen.
 * 5 December - Downpatrick & Ardglass Railway begins public operation, the first Irish gauge heritage railway in Ireland.

Arts and literature

 * Ciarán Carson's The Irish for No poetry collection is published and wins the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award.

Football

 * Irish League
 * Winners: Linfield


 * Irish Cup
 * Winners: Glentoran 1 - 0 Larne


 * Warrenpoint Town F.C. formed.

Motorcycling

 * Robert Dunlop wins the 125cc, 350cc and 1000cc races at the Cookstown 100 to be named “Man of the Meeting”.

Births

 * 2 January - Daryl Fordyce, footballer.
 * 21 February - Carl Frampton, boxer.
 * 2 March - Jonathan Rea, motorcycle racer.
 * 4 July - Jason Smyth, paralympian sprinter.
 * 29 August - Tony Kane, footballer.
 * 16 September - Kyle Lafferty, international soccer player.
 * 17 September - Greg Thompson, cricketer.
 * 6 October - Michael O'Connor, footballer.
 * 25 October - Darron Gibson, footballer.

Deaths

 * 27 April - Maurice Gibson, judge (born 1913).
 * 7 May - Colin Blakely, actor (born 1930).
 * 8 May - Patrick Joseph Kelly, Commander of the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade, killed by Special Air Service at Loughgall (born 1957).
 * 22 June - John Hewitt, poet (born 1907).
 * 3 December - George Seawright, Loyalist politician.
 * 22 December - John McMichael, leading Ulster Defence Association member, killed in car bomb attack.

Full date unknown

 * Alan Barnes, architect.
 * Jimmy Warnock, boxer (born 1912).