- Fergal O'Hanlon
Feargal O'Hanlon (Irish: Feargal Ó hAnnluain (b.
2 February 1936 ,Ballybay ,County Monaghan ,Ireland – d.1 January 1957 ,Brookeborough ,County Fermanagh ,Northern Ireland ) was a member/volunteer in thePearse Column of the Irish Republican Army. [ [http://www.hoganstand.com/monaghan/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=71277 Hoganstand.com - GAA Football & Hurling] ]Background
A keen Irish language activist from a staunchly republican family, Feargal O'Hanlon was a draughtsman employed by Monaghan County Council, and was a
Gaelic football er. [cite book | last = Bishop, Patrick & Mallie, Eamonn | first = | authorlink = | title = The Provisional IRA | publisher = Corgi Books | year = 1987 | pages = p. 42 | doi = | isbn = 0-552-13337-X] [cite web | author=Ella O'Dwyer | title="A sister remembers" | work=An Phoblacht | url=http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/17282| accessdate=28 May | accessyear=2007]Brookeborough raid
Aged 20, he was killed along with
Seán South while taking part in an attack on theRoyal Ulster Constabulary (R.U.C.) barracks inBrookeborough ,County Fermanagh during the Border Campaign. Several other IRA members were wounded in the botched attack. The IRA fled the scene in a dump truck. They abandoned it near the border. They left South and O'Hanlon, both then unconscious, in a cow byre, and crossed into the Republic of Ireland on foot for help for their comrades. The wounded IRA men were treated as "car crash victims" by sympathetic staff in the Mater Misericordiae Hospital inDublin . [ [http://www.sinnfeinnews.com/news/detail/17346 Sinn Fein news] ] [cite web | author=Valerie Robinson | title="IRA men's deaths that caught whole country's imagination" | work=Irish News | url=http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2007/jan1_1957_Sean_South_death.php| accessdate=28 May | accessyear=2007]Reaction
O'Hanlon's mother remained firmly committed to the IRA and was hurt by the suggestion that there was an alternative to IRA activity or that her son was anything other than an Irish hero.cite book | last = Coogan | first = Tim | authorlink = Tim Pat Coogan | title = The I.R.A. | publisher =
Harper Collins | year = 2000 | pages = p. 313 | doi = | isbn = 0-00-653155-5 ]A marble monument now stands at the spot where South and O'Hanlon lost their lives. An annual lecture has been held in memory of O’Hanlon since 1982, and approximately 500 people attended a 50th commemoration of the men's deaths in January 2007 in
Limerick . [ [http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/17375 Sabhat/O'Hanlon 50th anniversary: Capacity crowd attends Memorial Lecture] ] [ [http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/17373 Seán Sabhat Commemoration: Positive response from Paisley would move situation forward] ]A fictionalized O'Hanlon is the narrator of
Dominic Behan 'sballad , "The Patriot Game ".His sister Pádraigín Uí Mhurchadha is now a
Sinn Féin Councillor onMonaghan Urban Council .References
Link
* [http://martindardis.com/id268.html The Patriot Game song lyrics chords and video about Fergal O'Hanlon]
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