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Post by watchdebreakswillye on May 3, 2016 21:51:19 GMT
Decided to have a 'go' at compiling names of club grounds. Some were easy to check and some were known to me. Those club grounds I couldn't find a name for, I left blank, rather than just putting in the geographic location or club name. I've listed the clubs alphabetically (hurling and football). Please help fill in as many blanks as possible.
I'll post the list over a number of posts so that you can view them in small batches rather than one big list.
Apologies if any errors exist
Club Ground Name Abbeydorney Tom Healy Memorial Park An Ghaeltacht Gort Caide Ghallarais Aunascaul Paddy Kennedy Memorial Park Ardfert Football Club Ardfert Asdee Jack Walsh Park Austin Stacks Connolly Park Ballydonoghue Denis Dowling Park Ballyduff Michael Mulvihill GAA The Sportsfield, Ballyduff
Ballyheigue John Joe O' Sullivan Park Ballylongford O' Rahilly Park
Ballymacelligott - Ballymacelligott Beale Stack Park, Ballybunion Beaufort Páirc Uí Chocláin Brosna Páirc na Féile
Castlegregory Páirc an Caisleáin
Castleisland Desmonds Castleisland Desmonds GAA
Causeway Causeway Clounmacon Páirc na nGael Cordal Páirc na Culach
Cromane Réalt na Mara Lios na Gaoithe, Cromane Crotta O`Neill's Dromakee Currow Currow
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Post by watchdebreakswillye on May 3, 2016 21:55:50 GMT
Decided to have a 'go' at compiling names of club grounds. Some were easy to check and some were known to me. Those club grounds I couldn't find a name for, I left blank, rather than just putting in the geographic location or club name. I've listed the clubs alphabetically (hurling and football). Please help fill in as many blanks as possible.
I'll post the list over a number of posts so that you can view them in small batches rather than one big list.
Apologies if any errors exist
Club Club Ground
Daingean Uí Chúis Páirc an Áthasaigh Dr. Crokes Lewis Rd Dromid Pearses Páirc an Phiarsaigh
Duagh Duagh Finuge James O' Sullivan Park Firies Páirc Eamon (O' Sullivan), Farranfore
Fossa Faitche an Fhosaidh Glenbeigh-Glencar Páirc na nGael Glenflesk St. Agatha's GAA
Gneeveguilla Paddy O' Leary Memorial Park John Mitchel's John Mitchel's GAA Sports Complex Keel Keel Kenmare Shamrocks Fr. Breen Park Kerins O`Rahilly's Strand Rd/Healy Park, Ballyrickard Kilcummin Páirc Chuimín
Kilgarvan Kilgarvan Kilmoyley Páirc Naomh Eirc Knockanure - Knockanure Knocknagoshel Willie Walsh Park Ladys Walk Laune Rangers JP O' Sullivan Park Legion Direen Lispole Páirc Seán Baróid Listowel Emmets Frank Sheehy Park
Listry Pairc Cuimhneacháin Maolmhuire Almán S.P Lixnaw Hermitage Park
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Post by watchdebreakswillye on May 3, 2016 22:00:28 GMT
Final 'few'
Club Club Grounds
Milltown/Castlemaine Paddy Burke Memorial Park Moyvane Con Brosnan Park Na Gaeil Pairc na nGael, Killeen Pearse Bros.Churchill The Spa. Rathmore Bishop Moynihan / Tim Lenihan Park
Renard Páirc Tomás Ó Donnchú Scartaglin Pat Casey Memorial Park Skelligs Rangers Páirc Chill Imeallach Sneem/Derrynane Fr Walsh Park, Sneem Spa Killarney Spa St Brendan's Hurling Club Ardfert St Mary's Con Keating Park
St Michael's-Foilmore Páirc Peile Naomh Mhichíl St Patrick's (East Kerry) St Patrick's Blennerville St Senan's Jackie Finnerty Memorial Park Tarbert Shannon Park Tempelenoe - Templenoe Tuosist Pairc Uí Shuilleabháin, Lauragh
Valentia Young Islanders/Dairbhre O' Connor Park Waterville Frank Casey's Dedicated to the memory of Nealie Curran & Damian Fogarty
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Post by onlykerry on May 4, 2016 8:47:12 GMT
I think some of the grounds you list above with a "Club Ground" name are simply the name of the location - the field is not dedicated to anybody in particular. Austin Stacks are located at the end of Connolly Park and I dont think the ground actually has a name, same with Legion and Direen, Ballydonoghue and Coolard, Crokes and Lewis Road etc.....
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Post by watchdebreakswillye on May 4, 2016 13:00:14 GMT
I think some of the grounds you list above with a "Club Ground" name are simply the name of the location - the field is not dedicated to anybody in particular. Austin Stacks are located at the end of Connolly Park and I dont think the ground actually has a name, same with Legion and Direen, Ballydonoghue and Coolard, Crokes and Lewis Road etc..... You're spot on there. I suppose force of habit caused me to include those ones as over the years they've 'assumed' their location names. I find it hard to believe that not all grounds are dedicated to some famous person or local hero. It was mentioned in a few posts previous about naming the new Centre of Excellence at Currans and the new John Mitchel's grounds and a few suggestions were offered. Slightly off subject but I wonder how many on here have been to all of the clubs grounds? I've been to quite a few but not all. In future if I'm in the vicinity of a ground I'm going to make it my business to call in. Also, and maybe this is pushing it, how many of you have actually kicked ball or pucked ball in each and every one of the pitches of Kerry (including Austin Stack's & Fitzgerald Stadium) I'd hazard a guess that very few, if any, have actually graced them all But back to the core question - I'd like If we were able to compile a complete and accurate list of all the club ground names on here. I'm sure the GAA hierarchy in the county has this list, but they'd be no fun in going directly to them for the information.
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Post by watchdebreakswillye on May 27, 2016 23:05:22 GMT
Kilmoyley GAA grounds are known as Páirc Naomh Eirc.
Erc was the only member of the court of High King Laoghaire of Tara to pay homage to Saint Patrick during St. Patrick’s spat with the druids on the Hill of Slane in 433. St Erc is believed to have been a pagan druid converted by St. Patrick. He was duly appointed first Bishop of Slane.
Erc was sent down to Kerry by St. Patrick in 450AD to complete the conversion of the Kingdom. Erc had spiritual charge not only of Kerry, but also south-west Limerick. He established a monastery at Lerrig from where he spread the faith through education and preaching. Saint Erc along with Saint Ita of Kileedy, Limerick, baptised St. Brendan at Tobar na Molt, Wether's Well, Tubrid.
Erc was the first Bishop of Kerry. He was a special friend and tutor to St. Brendan, the patron Saint of Kerry. He was also very friendly with St. Brigid. He died in 512AD.
As you will see from a previous list (above), there's a few more clubs to find out about, in particular, the names of their grounds. Any help would be appreciated.
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Post by watchdebreakswillye on May 28, 2016 0:11:36 GMT
Crotta O’ Neill’s
There was something in the back of my head that had me thinking that the Crotta O’ Neills club was named after one of the Earls - Hugh O’ Neill, of Tyrone, of Flight of the Earl’s fame. How wrong was I.
It turns out that he club is named after a patriotic Kerryman – Maurice O’ Neill. He was from Renard, as far as I can make out and he died as a result of fighting for what he believed in - a united Ireland. He was executed near enough around the same era as Charlie Kerins from Tralee. I’m afraid I know very little about the period Maurice O’ Neill and Charlie Kerins were active with the IRA. I have no recollection whatsoever of learning anything about it at school during history class. Maybe it wasn’t covered?
I’ve gathered a bit about Maurice O’ Neill below. Maurice O’Neill (1917-1942) hailed from outside Caherciveen. He was an IRA Volunteer. In October 1942, O’Neill and fellow IRA Volunteer, Harry White from Belfast, were staying in a house at Donnycarney, Dublin. They were there in preperation for a rendezvous with other IRA members. Unknown to them, they were surrounded by Free State forces. As they emerged from the house, they were met with a hail of bullets and in the ensuing gunfire, a Garda Detective was shot dead. Maurice O’Neill was captured, while Harry White escaped. O’Neill was charged under Emergency Powers and executed by Free State firing squad in Mountjoy Jail in November 1942. Widespread protests followed his execution. The bridge from Portmagee to Valentia is dedicated to his memory
The Crotta O’ Neill’s club has won 9 Senior County Hurling Championship titles – 1968, 1951, ’50, ’47, ’45, ’44, ’43, ’41 & ’39.
Another local club, Kilflynn Pearse’s won the Senior County Hurling Championship in 1937 & 1938. Yet another local club, Tullig Gamecocks won it one hundred years ago, in 1916.
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Post by Annascaultilidie on May 28, 2016 10:29:59 GMT
Free State? In 1942?
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Post by watchdebreakswillye on May 28, 2016 11:30:50 GMT
I did say I wasn't too well up on that period of history. Perhaps you can enlighten us further on the question you posed?
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Post by Mickmack on May 28, 2016 12:13:06 GMT
Kilmoyley GAA grounds are known as Páirc Naomh Eirc. Erc was the only member of the court of High King Laoghaire of Tara to pay homage to Saint Patrick during St. Patrick’s spat with the druids on the Hill of Slane in 433. St Erc is believed to have been a pagan druid converted by St. Patrick. He was duly appointed first Bishop of Slane. Erc was sent down to Kerry by St. Patrick in 450AD to complete the conversion of the Kingdom. Erc had spiritual charge not only of Kerry, but also south-west Limerick. He established a monastery at Lerrig from where he spread the faith through education and preaching. Saint Erc along with Saint Ita of Kileedy, Limerick, baptised St. Brendan at Tobar na Molt, Wether's Well, Tubrid. Erc was the first Bishop of Kerry. He was a special friend and tutor to St. Brendan, the patron Saint of Kerry. He was also very friendly with St. Brigid. He died in 512AD. As you will see from a previous list (above), there's a few more clubs to find out about, in particular, the names of their grounds. Any help would be appreciated.
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Post by Mickmack on May 28, 2016 12:21:08 GMT
As you go along the road from the old Banna School to Lerrig Cross you will pass Lerrig Lough on your right hand side. The road rises then and the Tearman Eirc stone is in in the wall on your left. To be fair to Erc he knew how to pick a good spot with fantastic panoramic views of the mountains and of Banna Strand. Those photos were taken in 2010.
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Post by himself on May 28, 2016 12:57:19 GMT
Yup. They considered themselves republicans and were still fighting a war against the usurpers of the real Sinn Fein Government, illegally overthrown by the despised 'Free Staters' - i.e. they were the people betrayed by De Valera's 'empty formula'. It doesn't make a lot of sense now, but back then it did. There were also issues with some of the Kerry players at the time. Maurice O'Neill was Cork footballer Pearse O'Neill's great grand-uncle.
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Post by Mickmack on May 28, 2016 16:32:06 GMT
Yup. They considered themselves republicans and were still fighting a war against the usurpers of the real Sinn Fein Government, illegally overthrown by the despised 'Free Staters' - i.e. they were the people betrayed by De Valera's 'empty formula'. It doesn't make a lot of sense now, but back then it did. There were also issues with some of the Kerry players at the time. Maurice O'Neill was Cork footballer Pearse O'Neill's great grand-uncle. Beautifully put. The ability to convey something perfectly is a few short words is noteworthy of several posters on this site. There was a documentary on Maurice ONeill on TG4 a few years ago. I dont think he was from Renard. Letter in Caherciveen i think is where he was from.
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Post by onlykerry on May 30, 2016 10:53:19 GMT
Going outside the county on this topic briefly - is Kingspan Breffni Park the only GAA ground with a commercial sponsor in the name?
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Post by glengael on May 30, 2016 11:19:00 GMT
Going outside the county on this topic briefly - is Kingspan Breffni Park the only GAA ground with a commercial sponsor in the name? Ne*ch Dr.Cullen Park in Carlow.
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Post by glengael on May 30, 2016 11:23:07 GMT
Sorry despite several efforts my computer won't allow me to write that correctly! The GAA stadium in Carlow is the one I'm referring to, if you Google it the sponsors name is now part of the name.
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Post by ciarrailar on May 30, 2016 11:45:45 GMT
Going outside the county on this topic briefly - is Kingspan Breffni Park the only GAA ground with a commercial sponsor in the name? Westmeath TEG Cusack Park
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Post by ciarrailar on May 30, 2016 11:46:54 GMT
Sorry despite several efforts my computer won't allow me to write that correctly! The GAA stadium in Carlow is the one I'm referring to, if you Google it the sponsors name is now part of the name. Net watch Dr Cullen Park
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Jigz84
Fanatical Member
Posts: 2,017
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Post by Jigz84 on May 30, 2016 11:52:19 GMT
Going outside the county on this topic briefly - is Kingspan Breffni Park the only GAA ground with a commercial sponsor in the name? Innovate Wexford Park.
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Post by givehimaball on May 31, 2016 13:28:12 GMT
Once Pairc ui Chaoimh reopens there will surely be a commercial sponsor's name in there I'd imagine given the cost overruns.
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Post by onlykerry on Jun 2, 2016 10:36:45 GMT
Pairc Ui Chaoimh will have major debt alright but ressurect Siamsa Cois Li or tie up with the live at the Marquee series will be the way forward. The only change Frank would countenance would be Murphy Stadium!!!!
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Post by givehimaball on Jun 2, 2016 15:55:55 GMT
Pairc Ui Chaoimh will have major debt alright but ressurect Siamsa Cois Li or tie up with the live at the Marquee series will be the way forward. The only change Frank would countenance would be Murphy Stadium!!!! The new rules for concerts (post-Garth) make it far harder for places like Pairc Ui Chaoimh to get planning permission. Nearly sure I remember something in some documents related to PuC that confirmed the naming rights would be sold (and this was from back when the budget was €62m) Now the final cost is rumoured to be north of €90m they will be desperate for any and all sources of revenue, so I'd say all bets are off. Maybe Murphy's Irish Stout Stadium but that could run into problems with the whole alcohol sponsorship of sport issue.
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Post by glengael on Jun 2, 2016 16:27:27 GMT
They might have to go back to Barry's Tea so boy. Surely they'd be no objection to that like? Tis healthy and all like.
They could get Bruce Springsteen to do a few concerts. Judging by the number of Bruce bores around this week, he'd fill the place many times over.
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kerryexile
Fanatical Member
Whether you believe that you can, or that you can't, you are right anyway.
Posts: 1,117
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Post by kerryexile on Jun 2, 2016 17:27:52 GMT
They might have to go back to Barry's Tea so boy. Surely they'd be no objection to that like? Tis healthy and all like. They could get Bruce Springsteen to do a few concerts. Judging by the number of Bruce bores around this week, he'd fill the place many times over. He will need a few new speakers from what I'm told.
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Post by onlykerry on Jun 2, 2016 17:41:36 GMT
Paint it green and stick a big red star on it - then get some geezer of a graphic artist to play around with the n in Langar and you could get around the alcohol sponsorship problem!!! Called Langar Stadium but pronounced poshly as Lager.....
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Post by watchdebreakswillye on Jun 2, 2016 18:51:46 GMT
Was up around Sliabh Luachra Country lately and passed by Scartaglen & Gneeveguilla. Lovely country
Scartaglen pitch is called Pat Casey Memorial Park & Gneeveguilla is Paddy O Leary Memorial Park. Unfortunately I don't know much about either man.
Currow GAA pitch is called just that.
I'll update the list
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Post by southward on Jun 2, 2016 21:14:40 GMT
The Irish Free State was created in 1922. Though the 1937 constitution made reference to a republic, The Republic of Ireland only came onto being (officially anyway) with the passing of the "Republic of Ireland Act 1948", which came into force in 1949. So yeah, it's at least arguable that the "Free State" existed in 1942.
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Post by Mickmack on Jun 13, 2016 21:05:47 GMT
Todays Times gives information about a new book www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/kerry-and-1916-from-roger-casement-to-thomas-ashe-1.2682834Kerry and 1916: from Roger Casement to Thomas Ashe Kerry was set to join the Easter Rising until the capture of Casement and German arms foiled plans, but the deaths of O’Rahilly and Thomas Ashe sowed more seeds for rebellion about 7 hours ago On Easter Saturday 1916, the leader of the Castlegregory branch of the Irish Volunteers, Pat “Aeroplane” O’Shea, was directed to come into Tralee to collect green pilot lamps with which to signal a ship expected into Tralee Bay the following day. In an extract from his memoirs, published for the first time in Kerry 1916: Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising, he remembers all was well until the Dingle train pulled into Castlegregory junction. There he heard sensational news: “An ex-RIC sergeant named Murphy, who was employed as a checker on the railway, informed all in the carriage, which seated about thirty, that a German ship had been captured at the Shannon’s mouth and that two Germans had been captured near Banna Strand.” This was the moment that O’Shea found out about the German arms ship, the Aud and its capture. As the train pulled into Tralee station he saw “history unfold itself before my eyes”. “Advancing along the middle of the road marched a company of RIC, helmets on their heads, and carbines on their shoulders and ammunition pouches slung on their belts. However one disliked them, one could not but admit that they were a fine body of men as they strode along, looking neither to right or left and lest of all at the man in civilian clothes who walked in the centre and whose great height almost dwarfed them all. Nobody, not even his ignoble escort, knew the identity of this stranger whose proud and erect mien drew and held the attention of all. He was of middle age, handsome, with pale complexion, black hair and moustache turning grey. He wore a cheap looking and obviously ready-made suit with a white handkerchief peeping out of the breast pocket. He wore no beard. He wore no overcoat so that his manacled hands were in plain view. On his head he wore a cap with a wide flat top. As far as dress went, his was a shabby figure. One thing was recognised by all. The man who left Tralee by the 10.30 train that morning was a personage, but all guesses were very wide of the mark – especially those relating to the prisoner’s nationality.” The man who was being escorted to Tralee station that Easter Sunday morning was Sir Roger Casement. His arrest at McKenna’s Fort near Banna Strand and, later that day, the arrest of IRB man, Austin Stack, leader of the Kerry Volunteers, threw the planned Rising in Kerry – and nationwide – into chaos. Kerry had been integral to the planning of the Rising and was to be a major centre of action had the Rising, as it was conceived and planned by the IRB, gone ahead. In the months leading up to Easter 1916, Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, William Partridge, Seán Mac Diarmada and Joseph Plunkett either visited or were in constant communication with Kerry Volunteer and IRB leaders. The weapons to arrive in the Aud were to be distributed by the Kerry Volunteers to their counterparts in Cork, Limerick, Clare and Galway. In spite of all these plans, the Easter Rising of 1916 did not happen in Kerry. The fact that the Aud arrived early, with no one ready to receive it, the arrest of Casement and Stack, and the tragic drowning of Volunteers Con Keating, Daniel Sheehan and Charles Monahan at Ballykissane, while en route to Cahersiveen to secure communications equipment for the insurgents, meant that all plans in Kerry were now on hold. The news of these events caused Eoin MacNeill, Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Volunteers, to issue the countermanding order. All the ensuing confusion meant that the Rising was confined to Dublin and a few other places in north county Dublin, Meath, Wexford and Galway, while the men and women in Kerry waited, standing ready under arms for orders that never came. Despite this, it is vital to our understanding of the complex histories of the 1916 Rising that we look at what happened in Kerry and the contribution of Kerry men and women to the revolutionary story. Central to any understanding of the Rising is the issue of German aid and how the success of that aid relied on Kerry Volunteers. For many, a German-Irish alliance seemed logical. In west Kerry, Irish language enthusiasts turned Volunteer organisers, Desmond FitzGerald and Ernest Blythe, “spoke in the strongest terms of a German-Irish alliance” at public meetings. Sir Roger Casement, with the support of the American equivalent of the IRB – Clan na Gael – was the driving force behind the German connection. In Ireland, the IRB Military Council, consisting of the signatories of the Proclamation, drew up plans for the Rising. The Munster and Connacht Volunteers were to play a concrete part, and Kerry Volunteers had the pivotal position outside of Dublin. Alfred “Alf” Cotton, Volunteer organiser in Kerry and IRB man, wrote years later that German arms were to be landed in Fenit and “in Kerry our immediate objective would be to ensure the safe landing and distribution of the arms and ammunition”. Kerry Volunteers would then capture the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in Tralee and close down the roads leading from the town “to prevent any British adherents carrying information to Cork or Limerick”. Once Tralee was secured, the Volunteers would then move on to capture Listowel, Killarney and Castleisland. After Kerry was secured, the arms would be distributed amongst Kerry, Limerick, Cork, Clare and Galway Volunteers. This would result in an open rebellion, with the south and west falling into the hands of the Volunteers. Simultaneously, the Dublin units, after several days’ fighting in the capital, were to retreat and link up with the western and southern Volunteers. Plunkett seems to have honestly believed that “we could hold out one way or another for anything up to three months”. Only the commander of the Volunteers and IRB in Kerry, Austin Stack, together with Cotton, had the full plans. Cotton recalled “every effort was to be made to have all in readiness, but no hint of the plans or intentions were to be given to any person”. Some Volunteers were told of an imminent shipment of German arms but, according to William Mullins, a Tralee IRB man, the Volunteers were not expecting them to be used in a rebellion. Stack’s deputy, Paddy Cahill, told Mullins of the shipment but “Cahill made no mention of a Rising, or any other activity in this connection”. Volunteer leader, James Fitzgerald, from Lispole, was ordered by Stack to maintain a watch on the coast and have a canoe with a crew in readiness and “I was to report to him any strange vessel observed in the bay – I don’t know for what purpose”. In spite of this secrecy, the Royal Irish Constabulary was well aware of the conspirators’ objectives. Somewhere along the secrecy chain there was a leak from within the Irish Volunteers and IRB, with someone handing information over to the Castle. In his report for January 1916, the Inspector General wrote: “Within the past few days, information has been received from an informant in Ireland that the Irish Volunteer leaders have been warned to be in readiness for a German landing at an early date, and that in this connexion general parades of Irish Volunteers on St Patrick’s Day have been ordered … I submit that it is now time to seriously consider whether the organising of the Irish Volunteers can be allowed with safety to continue their mischievous work and whether this force as hostile to British interests can be permitted to increase its strength and remain any longer in possession of arms without grave danger to the State.” The Aud arrived in Tralee Bay on Holy Thursday, April 20th, but received no signal from the shore to begin disembarking the weapons. Simultaneously, Roger Casement and his two colleagues, Robert Monteith and Daniel Bailey, who arrived on German U-boat U19 in Tralee Bay, were put ashore on Banna Strand on the Friday morning. Monteith and Bailey decided to leave the ailing Casement where he was and seek help from the Volunteers in Tralee. They met up with Stack but, on returning to Banna Strand, found that Casement had been recently arrested. On hearing the news, Stack, apparently, told his comrades, “Oh God lads, the game is up”. He was arrested later that evening, following an attempt to either meet or rescue Casement from the barracks in Tralee. With Cotton absent – he had recently been effectively banished from Kerry by the RIC – nobody, seemingly, who was left was in on the plan. On Saturday, April 22nd, the Kerryman announced “following orders from headquarters arrangements are being made to have all members of the Kerry brigade engaged in full manoeuvres on Sunday next April 23rd”. Kerry Volunteers mobilised on the Sunday and again on Monday in Tralee, but Paddy Cahill received no orders from headquarters. By then, the Aud had been intercepted by the British navy. Despite the arrests and the loss of the arms, the orders from Stack to mobilise remained in place. In Dingle, Volunteer Tadhg Kennedy heard that Stack had been arrested and he was to return to Tralee. However, he “disregarded it and waited to march with the Volunteer contingent to Tralee on Saturday night at 12 midnight from Annascaul”. On Saturday, a contingent of 40 armed men marched in from Ballymacelligott and were stationed in the Rink where they and the Tralee Volunteers provided a guard for Monteith, who was hiding there. On Easter Saturday night over 100 Volunteers from west of Dingle began their journey to Tralee. At about 2am, they began their march from “Annascaul to the village of Camp where [they] rested and were joined by Volunteers who had marched from Ballyferriter, Dingle and Lispole”. The west Kerry men had marched through the night up the Conor Pass in very bad weather. Seán Ó Muircheartaigh, who was a lieutenant with “The Ferriters”, remembered the hard struggle up the Pass, as it “was raining and pitch dark [and]…men were complaining about their boots”. The marchers arrived in Tralee about 10am on Easter Sunday morning. There they joined with the Tralee and Ballymacelligott Volunteers and Cumann na mBan women in the Rink in Tralee. The gathered Volunteers, about 320 strong and the majority armed with some sort of gun, then paraded in the sportsfield when Patrick Walsh arrived from Limerick with the countermand from The O’Rahilly. Easter Monday dawned quiet in Tralee and early on the men got orders to return to their homes and wait for further orders. The west Kerry men did not relish another march all the way back so they went to Tralee station, where after a short standoff with some RIC men, they boarded the train and returned west. The rest of the Volunteers in Tralee remained on standby for much of the week but eventually they all went home. In Dublin, the planners, aware that the loss of the Aud meant the Rising would be confined to Dublin and to almost certain failure, decided to go on with the rebellion. After the surrender the county was quiet but the execution of Roger Casement in Pentonville on August 3rd changed attitudes. The commandant of the Ashbourne insurgents, Kerryman Thomas Ashe, wrote that the “whole county seemed to be crying”. This change continued as stories of the Kerrymen killed in the Rising in Dublin (The O’Rahilly, Patrick Shortis, Patrick O’Connor and Michael Mulvihill) as they charged down Moore Street on Easter Friday, were told throughout the county. By the time of the general amnesty in June 1917, the support for the Rising and the attitude of the people had radically altered. There was a tumultuous welcome home for the released prisoners on June 20th and, in August 1917, to mark the first anniversary of Casement’s execution, a huge meeting was held at Casement’s Fort in Banna Stand where the Volunteers and Cumann na mBan paraded. Thomas Ashe addressed the “men and women of Kerry” and praised the “mystical man” who had “brought with him a loving heart and an undaunted spirit that will live in Ireland as long as any man will live who believes in the Irish ideals of an Irish republic”. Ashe was soon re-arrested after this, and was fatally injured while being force fed while on hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail; he died on September 23rd. Over 700 Kerry Volunteers travelled to Dublin for his funeral and mock funerals were also enacted in every parish in Kerry. The then Chief Secretary for Ireland, Ian MacPherson, said that Ashe’s death did “more to stimulate Sinn Féinism and disorder in Ireland than anything I know”. The RIC estimated that soon after the number of Volunteers in the county had reached 3,000 and Kerry was now poised to play its part in the coming months and years of turmoil. This is an edited extract from Kerry 1916: Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising – A Centenary Record edited by Bridget McAuliffe, Dr Mary McAuliffe and Owen O’Shea published in April and available from bookshops nationwide and online from kerry1916book.com
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Post by watchdebreakswillye on Jun 14, 2016 17:41:25 GMT
Todays Times gives information about a new book www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/kerry-and-1916-from-roger-casement-to-thomas-ashe-1.2682834Kerry and 1916: from Roger Casement to Thomas Ashe Kerry was set to join the Easter Rising until the capture of Casement and German arms foiled plans, but the deaths of O’Rahilly and Thomas Ashe sowed more seeds for rebellion about 7 hours ago On Easter Saturday 1916, the leader of the Castlegregory branch of the Irish Volunteers, Pat “Aeroplane” O’Shea, was directed to come into Tralee to collect green pilot lamps with which to signal a ship expected into Tralee Bay the following day. In an extract from his memoirs, published for the first time in Kerry 1916: Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising, he remembers all was well until the Dingle train pulled into Castlegregory junction. There he heard sensational news: “An ex-RIC sergeant named Murphy, who was employed as a checker on the railway, informed all in the carriage, which seated about thirty, that a German ship had been captured at the Shannon’s mouth and that two Germans had been captured near Banna Strand.” This was the moment that O’Shea found out about the German arms ship, the Aud and its capture. As the train pulled into Tralee station he saw “history unfold itself before my eyes”. “Advancing along the middle of the road marched a company of RIC, helmets on their heads, and carbines on their shoulders and ammunition pouches slung on their belts. However one disliked them, one could not but admit that they were a fine body of men as they strode along, looking neither to right or left and lest of all at the man in civilian clothes who walked in the centre and whose great height almost dwarfed them all. Nobody, not even his ignoble escort, knew the identity of this stranger whose proud and erect mien drew and held the attention of all. He was of middle age, handsome, with pale complexion, black hair and moustache turning grey. He wore a cheap looking and obviously ready-made suit with a white handkerchief peeping out of the breast pocket. He wore no beard. He wore no overcoat so that his manacled hands were in plain view. On his head he wore a cap with a wide flat top. As far as dress went, his was a shabby figure. One thing was recognised by all. The man who left Tralee by the 10.30 train that morning was a personage, but all guesses were very wide of the mark – especially those relating to the prisoner’s nationality.” The man who was being escorted to Tralee station that Easter Sunday morning was Sir Roger Casement. His arrest at McKenna’s Fort near Banna Strand and, later that day, the arrest of IRB man, Austin Stack, leader of the Kerry Volunteers, threw the planned Rising in Kerry – and nationwide – into chaos. Kerry had been integral to the planning of the Rising and was to be a major centre of action had the Rising, as it was conceived and planned by the IRB, gone ahead. In the months leading up to Easter 1916, Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, William Partridge, Seán Mac Diarmada and Joseph Plunkett either visited or were in constant communication with Kerry Volunteer and IRB leaders. The weapons to arrive in the Aud were to be distributed by the Kerry Volunteers to their counterparts in Cork, Limerick, Clare and Galway. In spite of all these plans, the Easter Rising of 1916 did not happen in Kerry. The fact that the Aud arrived early, with no one ready to receive it, the arrest of Casement and Stack, and the tragic drowning of Volunteers Con Keating, Daniel Sheehan and Charles Monahan at Ballykissane, while en route to Cahersiveen to secure communications equipment for the insurgents, meant that all plans in Kerry were now on hold. The news of these events caused Eoin MacNeill, Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Volunteers, to issue the countermanding order. All the ensuing confusion meant that the Rising was confined to Dublin and a few other places in north county Dublin, Meath, Wexford and Galway, while the men and women in Kerry waited, standing ready under arms for orders that never came. Despite this, it is vital to our understanding of the complex histories of the 1916 Rising that we look at what happened in Kerry and the contribution of Kerry men and women to the revolutionary story. Central to any understanding of the Rising is the issue of German aid and how the success of that aid relied on Kerry Volunteers. For many, a German-Irish alliance seemed logical. In west Kerry, Irish language enthusiasts turned Volunteer organisers, Desmond FitzGerald and Ernest Blythe, “spoke in the strongest terms of a German-Irish alliance” at public meetings. Sir Roger Casement, with the support of the American equivalent of the IRB – Clan na Gael – was the driving force behind the German connection. In Ireland, the IRB Military Council, consisting of the signatories of the Proclamation, drew up plans for the Rising. The Munster and Connacht Volunteers were to play a concrete part, and Kerry Volunteers had the pivotal position outside of Dublin. Alfred “Alf” Cotton, Volunteer organiser in Kerry and IRB man, wrote years later that German arms were to be landed in Fenit and “in Kerry our immediate objective would be to ensure the safe landing and distribution of the arms and ammunition”. Kerry Volunteers would then capture the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in Tralee and close down the roads leading from the town “to prevent any British adherents carrying information to Cork or Limerick”. Once Tralee was secured, the Volunteers would then move on to capture Listowel, Killarney and Castleisland. After Kerry was secured, the arms would be distributed amongst Kerry, Limerick, Cork, Clare and Galway Volunteers. This would result in an open rebellion, with the south and west falling into the hands of the Volunteers. Simultaneously, the Dublin units, after several days’ fighting in the capital, were to retreat and link up with the western and southern Volunteers. Plunkett seems to have honestly believed that “we could hold out one way or another for anything up to three months”. Only the commander of the Volunteers and IRB in Kerry, Austin Stack, together with Cotton, had the full plans. Cotton recalled “every effort was to be made to have all in readiness, but no hint of the plans or intentions were to be given to any person”. Some Volunteers were told of an imminent shipment of German arms but, according to William Mullins, a Tralee IRB man, the Volunteers were not expecting them to be used in a rebellion. Stack’s deputy, Paddy Cahill, told Mullins of the shipment but “Cahill made no mention of a Rising, or any other activity in this connection”. Volunteer leader, James Fitzgerald, from Lispole, was ordered by Stack to maintain a watch on the coast and have a canoe with a crew in readiness and “I was to report to him any strange vessel observed in the bay – I don’t know for what purpose”. In spite of this secrecy, the Royal Irish Constabulary was well aware of the conspirators’ objectives. Somewhere along the secrecy chain there was a leak from within the Irish Volunteers and IRB, with someone handing information over to the Castle. In his report for January 1916, the Inspector General wrote: “Within the past few days, information has been received from an informant in Ireland that the Irish Volunteer leaders have been warned to be in readiness for a German landing at an early date, and that in this connexion general parades of Irish Volunteers on St Patrick’s Day have been ordered … I submit that it is now time to seriously consider whether the organising of the Irish Volunteers can be allowed with safety to continue their mischievous work and whether this force as hostile to British interests can be permitted to increase its strength and remain any longer in possession of arms without grave danger to the State.” The Aud arrived in Tralee Bay on Holy Thursday, April 20th, but received no signal from the shore to begin disembarking the weapons. Simultaneously, Roger Casement and his two colleagues, Robert Monteith and Daniel Bailey, who arrived on German U-boat U19 in Tralee Bay, were put ashore on Banna Strand on the Friday morning. Monteith and Bailey decided to leave the ailing Casement where he was and seek help from the Volunteers in Tralee. They met up with Stack but, on returning to Banna Strand, found that Casement had been recently arrested. On hearing the news, Stack, apparently, told his comrades, “Oh God lads, the game is up”. He was arrested later that evening, following an attempt to either meet or rescue Casement from the barracks in Tralee. With Cotton absent – he had recently been effectively banished from Kerry by the RIC – nobody, seemingly, who was left was in on the plan. On Saturday, April 22nd, the Kerryman announced “following orders from headquarters arrangements are being made to have all members of the Kerry brigade engaged in full manoeuvres on Sunday next April 23rd”. Kerry Volunteers mobilised on the Sunday and again on Monday in Tralee, but Paddy Cahill received no orders from headquarters. By then, the Aud had been intercepted by the British navy. Despite the arrests and the loss of the arms, the orders from Stack to mobilise remained in place. In Dingle, Volunteer Tadhg Kennedy heard that Stack had been arrested and he was to return to Tralee. However, he “disregarded it and waited to march with the Volunteer contingent to Tralee on Saturday night at 12 midnight from Annascaul”. On Saturday, a contingent of 40 armed men marched in from Ballymacelligott and were stationed in the Rink where they and the Tralee Volunteers provided a guard for Monteith, who was hiding there. On Easter Saturday night over 100 Volunteers from west of Dingle began their journey to Tralee. At about 2am, they began their march from “Annascaul to the village of Camp where [they] rested and were joined by Volunteers who had marched from Ballyferriter, Dingle and Lispole”. The west Kerry men had marched through the night up the Conor Pass in very bad weather. Seán Ó Muircheartaigh, who was a lieutenant with “The Ferriters”, remembered the hard struggle up the Pass, as it “was raining and pitch dark [and]…men were complaining about their boots”. The marchers arrived in Tralee about 10am on Easter Sunday morning. There they joined with the Tralee and Ballymacelligott Volunteers and Cumann na mBan women in the Rink in Tralee. The gathered Volunteers, about 320 strong and the majority armed with some sort of gun, then paraded in the sportsfield when Patrick Walsh arrived from Limerick with the countermand from The O’Rahilly. Easter Monday dawned quiet in Tralee and early on the men got orders to return to their homes and wait for further orders. The west Kerry men did not relish another march all the way back so they went to Tralee station, where after a short standoff with some RIC men, they boarded the train and returned west. The rest of the Volunteers in Tralee remained on standby for much of the week but eventually they all went home. In Dublin, the planners, aware that the loss of the Aud meant the Rising would be confined to Dublin and to almost certain failure, decided to go on with the rebellion. After the surrender the county was quiet but the execution of Roger Casement in Pentonville on August 3rd changed attitudes. The commandant of the Ashbourne insurgents, Kerryman Thomas Ashe, wrote that the “whole county seemed to be crying”. This change continued as stories of the Kerrymen killed in the Rising in Dublin (The O’Rahilly, Patrick Shortis, Patrick O’Connor and Michael Mulvihill) as they charged down Moore Street on Easter Friday, were told throughout the county. By the time of the general amnesty in June 1917, the support for the Rising and the attitude of the people had radically altered. There was a tumultuous welcome home for the released prisoners on June 20th and, in August 1917, to mark the first anniversary of Casement’s execution, a huge meeting was held at Casement’s Fort in Banna Stand where the Volunteers and Cumann na mBan paraded. Thomas Ashe addressed the “men and women of Kerry” and praised the “mystical man” who had “brought with him a loving heart and an undaunted spirit that will live in Ireland as long as any man will live who believes in the Irish ideals of an Irish republic”. Ashe was soon re-arrested after this, and was fatally injured while being force fed while on hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail; he died on September 23rd. Over 700 Kerry Volunteers travelled to Dublin for his funeral and mock funerals were also enacted in every parish in Kerry. The then Chief Secretary for Ireland, Ian MacPherson, said that Ashe’s death did “more to stimulate Sinn Féinism and disorder in Ireland than anything I know”. The RIC estimated that soon after the number of Volunteers in the county had reached 3,000 and Kerry was now poised to play its part in the coming months and years of turmoil. This is an edited extract from Kerry 1916: Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising – A Centenary Record edited by Bridget McAuliffe, Dr Mary McAuliffe and Owen O’Shea published in April and available from bookshops nationwide and online from kerry1916book.com The people of West Kerry re-enacted the march from the west to Tralee a few weeks ago. Fair play to them. See a bit about it in the link below www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/near-40-mile-trek-by-volunteers-to-meet-aud-re-enacted-1.2622777
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