Irish Civil War: 12 Munster killings that tell the story of the conflict

When the Battle of Dublin ended and the first engagement of the Civil War was over, the focus shifted from the capital to the rest of the island. When the anti-Treaty IRA secured Skibbereen, they held all of the First Southern Division area of Ireland, taking in most of Munster.

However, the main urban centres — Cork, Limerick, and Waterford — all differed greatly in terms of their readiness to withstand a Free State advance.

At the start of the Civil War, Waterford City was ostensibly under the control of the IRA. Strategic locations in the city were prepared to defend an attack, but it was apparent to senior officers that they had neither the men nor the arms to completely defend the city. 

They came to the belief that the Free State could mount a naval landing of troops at Tramore and march north-east into the city. As it turned out, it was the Kilkenny side of the River Suir where their focus ought to have been concentrated upon.

Private Michael Costello was from Clonaspoe, near Dundrum in Tipperary. He was 25 years of age when he joined the National Army in the spring of 1922.

He fought in the Battle of Dublin before being sent to Kilkenny to serve under his fellow Dundrum man, Commandant General John Prout.

Prout, one of the most fascinating figures in the Army, emigrated to the US as a boy and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his service with the 69th Infantry Regiment in the First World War.

Prout led Costello and the rest of his men from Kilkenny towards Waterford on July 17. Apart from some blocked roads, and minimal resistance, their progress to Waterford was swift. Also making his way to Waterford on that day was my own grandfather, Michael Dooley, from Killavilla, Offaly.

The still under-resourced army commandeered his Ford Model T and my grandfather was gently encouraged to drive Prout’s second in command, Brigadier Patrick Paul, part of the way.

He had been en route, inadvisably given the circumstances, to the city to visit his sister who ran Dooley’s Hotel on Merchants Quay.

Mount Misery, and the high ground overlooking Waterford was largely unoccupied by the IRA and the National Army soon secured it and began to bombard the city below.

Some gunfire was returned, however, from the opposite side of the river. During their capture of the area around Ferrybank, Costello was fatally wounded. His remains were brought to Thurles, and then on to his native Dundrum to be interred.

National Army Corporal Cornelius Sullivan

Ballingaddy, Limerick - July 23, 1922

Christmas 1921 was a time of great debate across Ireland. The Anglo-Irish Treaty had been signed a few weeks earlier. Families and communities began to split over potential opportunities that the agreement could bring versus the unrealised dream of an Irish Republic.

The new year brought a cold civil war. The history books will point to the moment when the first shells hit the Four Courts as the beginning of the conflict. However, the months beforehand offered several moments when this cold war almost exploded white hot.

One such place where the Civil War almost broke out was Limerick City. The stand-off between Ernie O’Malley’s anti-Treaty Volunteers and Michael Brennan’s pro-Treaty National Army troops in March illustrated the importance the city held for both sides.

It is little wonder, then, that some members of the IRA were so frustrated when they were forced to retreat from the city on July 21, after two days of bombardment by the Free State.

One retreating Officer stated “no one now had the heart to fight”.

Corporal Con Sullivan was from Knockeenahone, about 14 miles northeast of Killarney. He joined the National Army in May 1922.

He was a part of a Free State advance upon the areas into which the evacuated IRA from Limerick had regrouped — a triangle whose vertices were Bruff, Bruree, and Kilmallock.

The Republican resistance faced by the National Army over the course of nearly two weeks of fighting in this area would be the most brutal they would encounter over the entire Civil War.

Before fighting began in earnest in the area, Corporal Sullivan, along with two Cork men and a fellow Kerryman, formed an advance party and were moving along the road at Ballingaddy, between Bruff and Bruree, when they were shot and killed by machine gun fire. Their bodies lay on the road for some time before being retrieved.

One of the dead men apparently survived long enough to crawl a distance away before succumbing to his wounds. His body was found by the Red Cross — among them a brother of Kevin O’Higgins TD. Sullivan is buried in Templain graveyard, near Bruff.

National Army Sergeant Patrick Perry

Rochestown, Cork - August 8, 1922

The IRA’s hopes for a ‘Munster Republic’ holding out against the advance of the Free State crumbled with the relative ease at which the main cities at the western and eastern coasts fell.

Whilst the ferocious fighting in the Kilmallock area offered some hope to Republicans that a full land-based advance into Cork could be delayed, there was little they could do about their foe sneaking up on them from the open sea.

On August 7, almost 800 troops of the National Army boarded four ships in North Wall, Dublin, and set sail for the southern coast which they reached after midnight the following day.

At Union Hall, almost 200 troops landed aboard the Alexandra. With the village’s pier destroyed by the IRA, the National Army troops were forced to row to shore in the dead of night and take the village.

At Youghal, the Helga docked with a further 200 troops and took the town after brief exchange of fire with the IRA. This was the same ship that destroyed Liberty Hall during the Easter Rising and transported Black and Tans in the War of Independence.

The flagships for the operation were the Arvonia and the Lady Wicklow. Led by Major General Emmet Dalton, these ships docked at Passage West. Despite coming under IRA fire, they managed to disembark and unload an 18-pound gun and two armoured cars.

Among these men were Sergeant Patrick Perry, from Blackrock, Dublin. He had joined the Army in the recruitment drive that followed the Battle of Dublin and within three weeks of joining found himself marching from Passage West to Cork City via Rochestown.

The National Army had taken the IRA in Cork by surprise. Only a couple of dozen Volunteers from the city could be mustered at the early hour to race east to meet the advancing troops.

It was in Rochestown that the first main resistance was offered and a fierce gunfight broke out which halted the Army’s advance.

At least seven soldiers were killed by IRA gunfire in Rochestown — Patrick Perry among them.

National Army Brigadier General Thomas O’Connor & National Army Captain John O’Connor

Kenmare, Kerry - September 9, 1922

Just like their neighbours in Cork, Kerry’s 400-mile coastline made it vulnerable to a naval landing by the Free State.

 While the IRA in the county could rely upon its mountainous terrain to mount a guerrilla insurgency against the Free State, many of its main populations centres were close to the coast and easily accessible.

When Major General Paddy O’Daly landed in Fenit with 450 men, they faced little resistance on their way to Tralee.

Whilst fighting in the town was fierce and casualties were high, it was a swift engagement and the town was taken within hours. The following day troops made the short voyage from Kilrush to Tarbert and took the towns of Ballylongford and Listowel before merging with O’Daly’s troops in Tralee.

Brigadier General Tom O’Connor was from Scarteen, about 10 miles outside Listowel. Adopting the name of his homeplace, he was known as O’Connor-Scarteen. He had fought in the War of Independence alongside his brother, John.

After hearing a speech by Michael Collins, they both decided to enlist in the Free State Army.

On August 11, Tom O’Connor Scarteen led a naval landing of 200 troops in Kenmare securing the town and its hinterlands for the Free State.

Just over three weeks later, the IRA mounted a daring attack, retaking the town for the Republicans. The attack began by targeting the senior Free State officers in the town — the O’Connor Scarteen brothers.

A group broke into the family bakery on Main Street, where the brothers were staying, and shot them both dead. John was killed as he came down the stairs. Tom was pulled from his bed and was shot in the head as he pleaded for his life.

National Army Sergeant Charles Kearns

Cork City - October 8, 1922

A fortnight after leading the naval invasion of Cork, Emmet Dalton was riding alongside the Commander in Chief of the Free State Army in a yellow Leyland Eight Touring Car on a quiet West Cork Road when the course of Irish history changed. General Michael Collins breathed his last whilst in Dalton’s arms.

In the weeks after Collins’ funeral, Dalton was one of those tasked with maintaining the Free State’s grip upon Cork. His men were coming under frequent attack from the IRA — at least 28 were killed in the month after Collins’ death.

Among them were seven who died when a mine exploded at Carrigaphooca Bridge. A further man was killed when he was shot in an act of reprisal — his body thrown into the “the hole caused by the mine explosion”.

However, notwithstanding the great stress of his role, Dalton was also preparing for his wedding to Alice Shannon which took place in Cork’s Imperial Hotel. Among the scores of military men in attendance was Charles Kearns.

Kearns was from Crocus Street in Belfast and had fought in the War of Independence with the IRA’s Third Northern Division. In the evening of the wedding Kearns got into a row with a young intoxicated soldier named Andrew Rooney.

The two men were separated by another Army Sergeant. However, crucially, no check was made to see if Rooney was armed. When Rooney encountered Kearns again, he shot him dead.

Amidst the consternation, Rooney was arrested. He was found guilty of Kearns murder and was sentenced to death. This sentence was commuted by Richard Mulcahy to a term of five years in prison.

IRA Section Commander Michael Keane

Shragh, Co Clare - November 4, 1922

Of the 1,077 men listed in the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection’s Fatality Map, at least 94 of them died as a result of illness brought on by their service during either the War of Independence and/or the Civil War.

Much like their fellow combatants who died as a result of accidental shootings, it is a tragic aspect of the time that is often overlooked.

Michael ‘Mike’ Keane was one of these men who succumbed to illness at the time. He died in his father’s house in Shragh, Moyasta from pulmonary tuberculosis.

Anxious to see the world, the young Keane joined the British Army and served with the Irish Guards. However, at the beginning of the War of Independence he deserted the Army and returned home.

Despite being only 20 at the time, his experience as a trained officer was invaluable and he became a Section Commander.

His ultimate demise could be traced back to being forced to go on the run in April 1921, during the War of Independence. It was reported that during this time he was forced to sleep in disused houses and suffered from ‘wettings’ amidst a harsh bout of weather.

When the Civil War began he joined the local IRA Flying Column which once again forced him to spend a great deal of time outdoors and constantly on the lookout for Free State patrols.

As the summer turned to autumn and the weather took a turn for the worse, he was forced to temporarily leave active service due to illness. However, he soon returned. But as the weather got worse, so too did his health.

His father wrote that “he was perfectly healthy until the hardships of being on the run and sleeping in improper places and being constantly on the watch at night undermined his health.

“His health was bad for some time prior to October 21, 1922 on which date he was compelled to lay up….”

His illness turned “acute” and he rapidly deteriorated before his death at the age of 23.

His senior IRA Commander wrote as part of Keane’s father’s application for a pension, “I would say [Keane’s] early return to the column caused his death. Perhaps if he had waited until later the worst would not have happened”.

IRA Company Captain Patrick Hennessy

Limerick City - January 20, 1923

On September 26, 1922, Ernest Blythe asked that a motion on behalf of Richard Mulcahy, Minister for Defence and Commander in Chief of the National Army, be read into the record of Dáil Éireann.

It proposed the establishment of “Military Courts or Committees for the enquiring into charges against persons in respect of” a number of offences including “taking part in or aiding and abetting any attack upon or using force against the National Forces” and “having possession without proper authority of any bomb … dynamite, gelignite, or other explosive substance, or any revolver, rifle, gun, or other firearm or lethal weapon, or any ammunition for any such firearm”.

These courts could inflict punishment up to and including execution.

Over the course of the Civil War, 81 men were officially executed by the Free State. Many of them were sentenced to death after facing the Military Courts. For instance, Erskine Childers was tried in Portobello Barracks before he was executed in Beggar’s Bush.

Others were not tried at all. 

No attempt was made by the Free State to conjure up any legality for the executions of Liam Mellows, Rory O’Connor, Joe McKelvey, and Dick Barrett who were killed as a direct reprisal for the shooting dead of Seán Hales TD the previous day.

The first executions in Munster took place in Roscrea on January 15, 1923 when four men were shot by firing squad in the courtyard of the 13th century castle in the town. Five days later, 11 men were executed around Ireland — the most in a single day during the conflict.

Among them was the Clooney IRA Company Captain of the Mid Clare First Battalion, Patrick Hennessy. Hennessy was arrested on January 16 alongside his fellow Clooney man, Con McMahon. They were both found guilty by Military Court on charges of being in possession of ammunition and for damaging the railway at Ardsollus station. They were executed in Limerick Prison.

Hennessy wrote on the night before his execution; “Found guilty on frivolous evidence, of course, our lives sworn away, but we are dying for Ireland still true to the Republic to the last. Money could not buy us.”

IRA Brigade Officer Commanding Dinny Lacey

Glen of Aherlow, Tipperary - February 18, 1923

Thirty-four Republicans were executed in the first month of 1923 alone. From Louth to Laois, Carlow to Kerry, men were lined up and shot by their fellow Irish men.

Fears grew among the thousands of IRA Volunteers who were interned that if the Civil War did not end soon, their lives could be used as ransom for those still engaging in attacks to cease fire.

The morale of the IRA had collapsed. As author Michael Hopkinson put it, “the conflict had become patchy and localised and scarcely merited the term ‘war’’’.

For most parts of the country, the conflict was fading from the forefront of people’s minds as attacks were reduced to the destruction of property and the cutting of telegram wires. Only in parts of the West, Kerry, and Wexford were there engagements of the scale seen in the autumn of the previous year.

One area where the IRA resistance to the Free State was unexpectedly piecemeal was also the heartland of the independence struggle — South Tipperary. Part of the reason for this was discontent between Divisional Commander Séamus Robinson and Flying Column leader Dinny Lacey.

Lacey was one of Tipperary’s most revered and uncompromising Republicans.

At the age of 26 he was among those who worked with Dan Breen and Seán Treacy to reorganise the Irish Volunteers in the south of Tipperary after the Easter Rising.

Assuming command of the local Flying Column after Treacy’s death, he became something of a hero in the area as he led attacks on Crown Forces during the War of Independence. Hopkinson quotes a National Army report which described Lacey as “the toughest leader which could be found in any part of Ireland”.

On the day that he was killed, Lacey was in Ballydavid in the Glen of Aherlow. He was rumoured to have been there that day as part of efforts to end the Civil War.

Free State troops began to fire on the safe house in which he was staying forcing him to flee. He was unable to cross the Aherlow River owing to two days of torrential rain and was shot dead near the riverside.

IRA Volunteer John Daly

Ballyseedy, Kerry - March 7, 1923

Little over a week after Dinny Lacey was killed, Liam Lynch presided over a meeting of 18 officers of the First Southern Division of the IRA.

The meeting in Ballingeary lasted for three days. Lynch was told that Volunteers “are fought to a standstill, and at present … are flattened out … [and] suffering great privations, and their morale is going”.

The IRA’s Chief of Staff heard that the men would fight on, but wanted to know from the Army Executive, “what are we fighting for?” and “can we win militarily?”

It was a potential moment for reflection and ceasefire. Instead, Lynch wished to fight on. It was a decision that would have drastic consequences for the month of March 70 miles away in Kerry.

John Daly was a member of the IRA near Castleisland. The previous year he, and fellow IRA member, John Buckley, got into a disagreement with a local farmer, Pats O’Connor.

Shortly afterwards, Free State troops carried out an unsuccessful search for IRA Volunteers in the area. Daly and Buckley assumed that O’Connor could have tipped off the troops.

O’Connor was duly kidnapped, held for three days, and fined £100. When he refused to pay, his house was stolen and then ransacked before ten of his cows were taken away.

Incensed by this injustice, Pat's son, Paddy, joined the Free State Army. It was not long before he lead troops to arrest Daly and Buckley.

On March 6, O’Connor led a group of eight troops to a remote area near Knocknagoshel to investigate an apparent Republican arms dump. This was an IRA ruse, however, and O’Connor, and four others were killed in a landmine explosion.

Major General Paddy O’Daly was furious. He was determined to carry out reprisals on Republicans for the loss of five of his men, and he was going to do so by the same means — landmine explosions.

Publicly, O’Daly issued orders to Free State troops in Kerry that should they come across a suspected landmine, they were to use Republican prisoners to clear the way. In reality, it would be the Free State Army themselves that would be setting the mines.

The day after the Knocknagoshel explosion, John Daly, and eight other prisoners were brought from Tralee to Ballyseedy Cross. They were told to stand around a pile of rubble and were tied up.

The Free State troops backed away — one of them saying “some of you fellows might go to heaven. If you do, you can say hello to our boys”. 

The mine then exploded, killing Daly and seven of the eight others. Stephen Fuller miraculously survived to tell the grim tale.

[Articles later this week in this Civil War series include further examinations of atrocities in Co Kerry at Ballyseedy, Tralee, Countess Bridge in Killarney, and at Bahaghs near Caherciveen.] 

IRA Chief of Staff Liam Lynch

Knockmealdown Mountains, Tipperary - April 10, 1923

March 1923 was a month of terror in Kerry. Within days of the Knocknagoshel explosion that killed five Free State troops, 17 Republican prisoners had been killed. 

Well over 20 were dead by the end of the month. Elsewhere, official executions resumed, with 11 men killed over two days in Dublin, Cork, Wexford, Westmeath, and Donegal.

This was the backdrop to a meeting of the IRA Executive in the Nire Valley, Waterford, also attended by Éamon de Valera. Lynch was steadfast in his desire to continue to fight. 

However, others, such as Tom Barry, were of the opinion that the continuation of Civil War would not “further the cause of independence of the country”. They agreed to adjourn their meeting and reconvene on April 10.

That morning, Lynch was in the Knockmealdown Mountains and was warned that National Army troops were encircling the area.

He fled with Frank Aiken and others towards Knockmealdown Mountain where he was shot and fatally wounded.

The officer who found him initially believed they had captured de Valera. When he got a better look at the man dying on the ground he said, “are you the bloody chief-of-staff of the Irregulars?” Lynch replied: 

“‘I am Liam Lynch, chief-of-staff of the Irish Republican Army. Get me a priest and a doctor. I’m dying.”

He died in Clonmel that evening.

IRA Volunteer Christopher Quinn

Ennis, Co Clare - May 2, 1923

Frank Aiken became the IRA’s Chief of Staff after the death of Liam Lynch. On April 30, a ceasefire was announced. This was not the IRA surrendering — it allowed, in their eyes, de Valera to try and negotiate terms with WT Cosgrave’s Free State government.

Indeed, the Civil War did not end with an IRA surrender three and a half weeks later — it ‘ended’ with Frank Aiken’s orders to Volunteers to dump their arms.

Shortly before the ceasefire, an army patrol was attacked in Ennis. Twenty-one-year-old Private Stephen Canty, from Causeway, Kerry, was shot dead. Paddy O’Mahony was arrested shortly after the shooting and was sentenced to death for being in possession of “partially loaded revolvers … and of being implicated in an attack”. He was executed on April 26.

Among the other men arrested for the death of Private Canty was 19-year-old Christy Quinn, from Turnpike, Ennis. 

Quinn, an apprentice tailor, joined the IRA in 1920 and had been active in scouting and despatch work around Ennis up to the time of his arrest.

The day before O’Mahony’s execution, Quinn and another Volunteer, William O’Shaughnessy, were sentenced to death at Military Tribunal in Limerick. 

It was stated that Private Canty was searching O’Shaughnessy and had found a gun when Quinn pulled out his own weapon and shot the soldier before O’Shaughnessy managed to fire at Canty with his gun too.

Despite the official ceasefire having come into effect at the end of April, both O’Shaughnessy’s and Quinn’s fate was sealed. The night before he died, Quinn wrote to his father from his cell in Home Barracks, Ennis;

“My last letter to you; I know it is hard, but welcome be the will of God. I am to be executed in the morning, but I hope you will try and bear it. Tell Katie not to be fretting for me as it was all for Ireland … Well father, I am taking it great … You have a son that you can be proud of, as I think I have done my part for the land I love.”

They were executed at 7.30am the following morning.