Lieutenant James O’Brien

Kilmaine Company

James O’Brien from Kilmaine was a cousin of Michael O’Brien from Kildun and fought side by side with him on the mountain in Tourmakeady. In Anthony Joyce’s personal account he said “It was Michael O’Brien’s cousin shot Ibberson. I don’t think that’s well known.”

Seamus Burke, also from Kildun was shot in the hip and wounded in the gun battle with British Forces that took place on the mountain. It is said that James O’Brien and Michael Shaughnessy were the men who carried him across the mountain to King’s house in Glenmask.

When James O’Brien knelt down to say the rosary each evening, we have been told that he included in his prayers the names of the fallen enemy in the Tourmakeady Ambush.