By Patrick Tunney On February 19, 1923, John McGuire, was charged and found guilty at Galway Jail with possession of a rifle and ammunition at Cluid, Headford without proper authority and was sentenced to death. Peaceful, celestial and calm in his sleep,In the realms of virtue and song,As a martyr he fell, Ah, then why […]
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Mick O’Brien From Cong
By Patrick Tunney In May 1921, the South Mayo Brigade I.R.A., under the leadership of Tom Maguire, launched a surprise attack in Tourmakeady on a group of R.I.C. and Black and Tans, inflicting severe losses. Mick O’Brien was shot and killed when he ran to assist the injured Tom Maguire. A Celtic Cross in Cong […]
Jim McEvilly, Castlebar
By Patrick Tunney When historians bright will write of the fight,Of Ireland’s weary war,Of their toil of fame they’d praise the name,Of McEvilly from Castlebar
Lally and O’Malley, Islandeady
By Patrick Tunney Fair Islandeady dons her crepe,Her mourning garb is on,For her gallant sons who faced vile Huns,And fell in Twenty-One.
The Dawn Of Twenty-Two
By Patrick Tunney Banba sung her songs of gladness,When her sons were on parade,Her heart was pierced with woe and sadness,When her honour was betrayed,The I.R.A. was bold and darin’,Full of valour, pure and true,But serfs dishonoured Mother Érin,At the dawn of twenty-two.Banba fought ‘gainst legions hoary,Lest her gems might fade away,In the vanguard of […]
On The Plains Of Kildare
by Patrick Tunney Old Moore’s Almanac By Patrick Tunney, Derrykillew, WestportEnigma dedicated to the brothers McGormac, Drumrainey;John Mannion, Tuam and all my Curragh Camp colleagues of 1921. Here’s to some comrades whose names I revere,That I met when on furlough in County Kildare,Who shared all their comforts so free with me,And with Paddy Mulervy of […]
James Duffy
by Patrick Tunney Old Moore’s Almanac Elegiac charade by Patrick Tunney, Derrykillew, Westport to the memory of the late James Duffy, Prospect, Westport. He joined the West Mayo Brigade at its inception and died fighting for Ireland. My heart throbs light, my hopes are bright when I think of Rosaleen,And her gallant sons who dared […]
John McCormack – Castlebar
Fenianism grew out of the failed attempts of Young Ireland 1848 rising. Founded simultaneously in Ireland and the US. by James Stephens and John O’Mahony in March 1858, its primary goal was to foment rebellion in Ireland John McCormack was born in Castlebar in 1850 the son of Samuel McCormack from Thomas Street., he had […]
Jack Connolly Private Statement
My dear Johnnie, Here at last are the few notes which I took down from Daddy about two years ago. At that time, they looked complete enough as they were intended for Michael Kilroy who knew the background to the events and the district in which they took place. You not being, perhaps, so well […]
Obituaries written by Patrick Tunney
Margaret Mulroe and Nora Dunne These two women suffered greatly as a result of the direct involvement of Patrick and his brother Michael Tunney in the fight for Irish freedom. Their home in the mountains, south of Westport, was the headquarters of the West Mayo Flying Column of the I.R.A. It was an easy target […]
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