Died of a hunger strike? That's some dedication there.
But given that the IRA were not fighting to free Ireland from British control (already done) but to forcibly impose Irish control on Ulster, I don't really see them as the good guys.
Oh yeah, and the whole planting bombs that kill innocent civilians thing. That counts against them quite a bit.
Depends what year you mean regarding the IRA. They were, you know, there fighting before the partition.
As to Sands, he went into it before all the other participants, expecting to die because he figured that was the only way international attention could be drawn to the treatment of British political prisoners. He not only died of a hunger strike, he planned to do so from the start.
Part way through, an MP for his district died and the people elected him to parliament, hoping to get him out of prison that way, but the Brits wouldn't let him out, and so he died as "Robert Sands, MP". Thatcher, predictably was so callous about it that her comments caused sucj riots that they had to cancel the British Home Championship football tournament that year.
The events inspired anti-British protests in Italy. In Norway it inspired a man to yeet a tomato at the British Queen during her visit. 5 towns in France named streets after Sands, memorials were built for him in America, Cuba, Australia, India's parliament had a moment of silence, and organized protests against Britain in his honor. Even Hong Kong's government tore into Thatcher.