Fourteen people were injured and police made 40 arrests.
The trouble began over plans for a parade by members of a group representing victims of republican violence in Northern Ireland.
Police said seventeen coachloads of people had travelled from the British-ruled northern province to the capital of the Irish Republic for the march.
A group of about 200 republican protesters blocked the route and threw stones at police.
Several cars were set alight.
The main Republican political party, Sinn Fein, had called on its supporters to ignore the march, which it described as "provocative and sectarian".