Donegall Road appears in the novel as a point of reference in a news report about a murder on a railway line nearby. The report makes the location part of a targeted sectarian attack: the man killed was Protestant, but his Catholic workmate was the intended target. The UDA claimed responsibility.

The Road and the Railway-Line Murder

The report places the killing near Donegall Road, rather than stating that it occurred on the road itself. Its account turns on the distinction between the victim and the intended target: a Protestant man working on the railway line was murdered, while the attack had been aimed at his Catholic colleague. The UDA’s claim of responsibility connects this local workplace killing to organized sectarian violence.