Captain Margaret Costello - Cumann na mBan (Srah)

Those familiar with the Tourmakeady Ambush will know that Captain Margaret Donoghue (who later married Volunteer Tom Costello) played a vital role in the Tourmakeady Ambush. Margaret describes her involvement in her own words:

“We got everything ready before the ambush, food and that. I ran dispatches to Ballinrobe about eight miles, from the Brigadier on the morning of the ambush”.

Margaret carried these dispatches to another Cumann na mBan member Christina Feeney (who later married Brigadier Tom Maguire) in Feeney’s pub in Ballinrobe, passing through the Military on her way, undetected.

Margaret and Tom Costello on their 50th Wedding Anniversary

Later that day, Margaret was involved in getting the doctor to Tom Maguire. After he was shot on the mountain, a girl called Ellen Kavanagh from Tawnagh (later Ellen Lally of Srah) was sent for Dr. Murphy who was lodging in Hewitt's Hotel. She was told to say that a woman in Tawnagh (Margaret Donoghue) had fallen off a ladder and wanted a doctor. Dr. Murphy came to Donoghue's and he was brought to Gortbunacullin to Pat Heneghan (Mhicilín) who brought him to Derassa and there he dressed Maguire.

Below is testimony given by Margaret Costello taken from her Military Pension file (courtesy of Micheál Lally’s book “The Tan War - Ballyovey, South Mayo”)

The bravery and service given by Margaret Costello and all the other women in Cumann na mBan is testament to the vital role these women played in the War of Indepedence.