Mayo News feature on the Tourmakeady Ambush 1921
Mayo News (Article 1) - The long road to Tourmakeady
In the first of a three-part series commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Tourmakeady Ambush, Ultan Lally, a history PHD candidate at NUI Galway and grandson of Comdt. Tom Lally, explores events leading up to May 3, 1921
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Mayo News (Article 2) - Laying the ambush in Tourmakeady
The map below is a graphic that accompanied the second article on the Tourmakeady Ambush written by Ultan Lally for the Mayo News. The graphic has been given to us courtesy of Conor McKeown, the photographer that took the picture. Thanks to Conor and also to Edwin McGreal, Journalist with the Mayo News newspaper.
Click on image for access to full Article (Pic. Conor McKeown)
Map Key
(1) Location of first IRA section under Brigade Adjutant Michael O’Brien at The Fairgreen, just north of where Halla Thuar Mhic Éadaigh currently is.
(2) Location of second IRA section under Comdt. Tom Lally, adjacent to Hewitt’s Hotel, what is now O’Toole’s shop and post office.
(3) Location of third IRA section under Captain Paddy May at Drimbawn House gate.
(4) Location of IRA unit under Officer Commanding Tom Maguire at Tourmakeady Old Post Office, positioned there to move between sections two and three as needed. O/C Maguire led them to join in with the group at Drimbawn House gate.
(5) Location of first RIC car when they were shot at, approaching Drumbawn Gate. Three out of the four occupants, Sergeant John Regan and Constables Patrick O’Reagan and Herbert Oakes, were killed.
(6) Location of RIC truck when it stopped and came under fire, between The Fairgreen and Hewitt’s. Constable William Power was killed. Many of his colleagues managed to make it to the relative security of Hewitt’s Hotel, where they barricaded themselves in, and exchanged fire with the IRA for a time.
(7) The road west of Tourmakeady beside Hewitt’s/O’Toole’s, up which several of the Volunteers subsequently fled heading in the direction of the Partry Mountains, where further fighting would ensue. Others made a safer escape along the lake, with some crossing Lough Mask by boat to Ballinrobe.
Mayo News (Article 3) - Fleeing Tourmakeady and the skirmish in the hills
In the final of a three part series, we hear from Ultan Lally how the Ambush in Tourmakeady was only the beginning of a dramatic day on May 3, 1921
Click on image for access to full Article (Pic: Pádraig Ó hÉanacháin)
Ultan Lally is a history PHD candidate at NUI Galway and is bringing out a second edition of his late father Micheál’s book, The Tan War in Ballyovey, later this summer.