Kilmeena ambush

Kilmeena ambush
Part of theIrish War of Independence
Date 18 May 1921 Location Kilmeena,County Mayo 53.843°N 9.529°W/53.843; -9.529 Result British victory IRA ambush fails and takes heavy casualties
Belligerents
Irish Republican Army (West Mayo Brigade)	United Kingdom Royal Irish Constabulary (includingBlack and Tans)
Commanders and leaders
Michael Kilroy	DI Peter Donnellan
Strength
41 volunteers	~20-30 men
Casualties and losses
At least 5 killed At least 4 wounded	3 killed
class=notpageimage| Location within island of Ireland

TheKilmeena ambushwas an action during theIrish War of Independencethat took place atKilmeena,County Mayoon 19 May 1921.The ambush ended in defeat for the local West MayoIrish Republican Army(IRA), with five IRA volunteers killed and four wounded and captured. Two members of theRoyal Irish Constabulary(RIC) and oneBlack and Tanwere also killed in the action.

Background

The IRA in west Mayo was relatively quiet until January 1921, whenMichael Kilroy,described as, "a puritanical and ascetic blacksmith"took over command of the Brigade afterTom Derrigwas arrested by the Royal Irish Constabulary. Kilroy formed a relatively large "flying column" of 40–50 men to carry out attacks on Crown forces in the area. On 6 May they suffered a reverse atIslandeady,when a police patrol came upon the IRA men cutting a road; three volunteers were killed and two captured.

Ambush

On 18 May 1921, the IRA decided to attack an RIC/Black and Tan convoy at Kilmeena. Two small-unit attacks were made on the RIC barracks inNewportandWestportto try to draw the police out of their well-defended barracks. One RIC man died in these attacks.

At 3am the next day, 19 May, the column of 41 IRA men took up position close to Knocknabola Bridge. The British convoy, travelling from Newport to Westport, consisted of two Crossley lorries and one Ford touring car—a total of about 30 men. The convoy did not arrive until 3pm and its arrival sparked a two-hour fire-fight. In the battle, one RIC man, Beckett, was wounded and later died. The British regrouped around the house of the parish priest, Father Conroy, and launched a counterattack.

Four IRA volunteers were killed in the engagement.They were Seamus MacEvilly, Thomas O'Donnell, John Patrick Staunton and Sean Collins.A fifth man, Paddy Jordan of the Castlebar battalion was injured and captured,and died later at Bricens Hospital in Dublin.Head RIC Constable Potter was seriously wounded and four more IRA men were wounded.Five IRA members: John Cannon, Paddy Mulloy, Thomas Nolan, Paddy O’Malley and John Pierce are captured.

Aftermath

The remainder of the column, carrying their wounded, fled over the mountains to Skerdagh, where they had safe houses. However, the police tracked them there and, in another exchange of fire, another IRA man was killed, Jim Brown from Newport, along with one RIC Constable and a Black and Tan.

The Black and Tans threw the dead and wounded IRA men on to the street outside the RIC barracks in nearby Westport, causing widespread revulsion among the local people and local police. The Marquis of Sligo, no friend of the republican guerrillas, visited the barracks to complain of their treatment of enemy dead. At the funerals of those killed, inCastlebar,the authorities allowed only close family to attend and forbade the draping of theIrish tricolourover the coffins.

The local IRA blamed their defeat in the ambush on the failure of an IRA unit from Westport to show up in time.

Kilroy's column managed to get some revenge for the setback at Kilmeena the following month (3 June) in anaction at Carrowkennedy,where they killed eight policemen and captured 16.

References

Sources

• MacEoin, Uinseann (1997).The IRA in the Twilight Years 1923-1948.Dublin: Argenta Publications.ISBN0951117246.
• Hopkinson, Michael (2002).The Irish War of Independence.Gill & Macmillan.ISBN9780717130108.