Ann Trainor and Ethel Allen both voted Yes in the referendum on the Belfast Agreement, which included an early-release scheme for paramilitary prisoners.
The bitter irony of knowing that their sons' murderers could be released under that scheme by next July was not lost on either woman yesterday.
Mrs Allen, Philip's mother, took some comfort from the fact that the convicted men would be "labelled guilty for the rest of their lives for the murder of my loving son".
But Mrs Trainor, Damien's mother, said those who supported the Belfast Agreement didn't know what they had signed up for.
"A lot of people realise now and there's not too many would vote again," she said, close to tears. "I'll never vote again. Never. That's me finished."
The women's sons were lifelong friends of different religions - Philip (34) a Protestant, Damien (26) a Catholic.
They had been sitting over soft drinks in the Railway Bar in the snug Co Armagh village of Poyntzpass on the night, almost two years ago, when they were killed.
The men had been talking about Philip's wedding, planned for summer 1998, at which Damien was to be best man.
Philip, a lorry driver, and Damien, a mechanic, shared a passion for cars. They had agreed that matrimony wouldn't interfere with their mutual hobby.
Their friendly chat was disrupted at about 9 p.m. when gunmen burst into the bar and ordered the nine patrons to lie on the floor. A barmaid, Bernadette Canavan, said the men "started shooting all around them".
Philip was killed almost instantly, while Damien died from his injuries a short time later.
It was acknowledged at the time that the murderers were intent on wrecking any hope of a peace accord, but they did not succeed. The SDLP's Mr Seamus Mallon and the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, stood shoulder to shoulder at the funeral of the two friends, buried in separate graveyards about a field apart. And less than six weeks later, the Belfast Agreement was signed.
On the first anniversary of the shooting last March, the Trainor and Allen families joined Protestant and Catholic neighbours for a memorial Mass in Poyntzpass's small Catholic church.
The men's families are now facing the second anniversary of their shared grief next month.