Sunday event to remember Tipp’s Commandant Mangan

A special commemoration takes place on Sunday to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Commandant Joseph Mangan

March 10 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Commandant Joseph Mangan of Moneygall, who was shot by Free State forces at an ambush and siege in Tullamoylan, Dolla on March 7, 1923.

A member of a dedicated Republican family, Joe grew up on the Laughton estate, where he worked with his father as herdsmen. In his teens, he joined the local Moneygall IRA unit. Among the actions he took part in during the War of Independence was the Modreeny ambush, where four RIC were killed. At the time of his death, he held the rank of Commandant No 1 in the IRA’s Tipperary Brigade 3rd Southern Division ASU.

TULLAMOYLAN AMBUSH

The recounting of the Tullamoylan Ambush and subsequent siege is both dramatic and tragic. As the Civil War drew towards a conclusion in 1923, Free State forces conducted sweeps of the countryside in an attempt to capture Republicans. On March 7, two groups of Free State soldiers were engaged in a pincer-type manoeuvre to trap volunteers – one from Silvermines village and another from Nenagh. Led by JG O’Dwyer, the Nenagh group moved from house to house along an famine-era road linking Lord Donalley's Estate at Kilboy with Baley's of Ballinaclough. This group descended upon Duignan’s farmhouse in Tullamoylan. The Duignan family were providing a safe house to a group of Republicans, including Joe Mangan. At that precise time, nine other volunteers were also present: local men Jack O’Brien (Millbrook, Templederry), brothers Dan and Pat O’Brien (Silvermines), Matt Ryan (Boher) and Jim O’Sullivan (Castletown, Portroe), as well as Sean Daly (Cork), Sean Buckley (Macroom), Mick Tierney (Offaly) and Stephen Davern (originally from Dublin).

Unbeknownst to the men, the Free State party split into two groups with one approaching from the rear and the other circling around to the front of the yard. Armed with four Lewis machine guns, the Free Staters opened fire without warning, scattering six of the Republicans, who were outside the house. The volunteers made for the good cover of the Tullamoylan River immediately beside the Duignan homestead. Matt Ryan escaped upriver, with Jack O’Brien and Stephen Davern eluding their attackers downstream.

HAIL OF BULLETS

In the initial hail of bullets, Joe Mangan was struck in the legs and stomach. As his comrade, Sean Daly, helped him away, Daly suffered a horrific shot to the head and another to the chest. (Miraculously, he survived for many years after.) Both injured volunteers were captured and taken across the Tullamoylan River. The sixth volunteer, Dan O’Brien, made for the river but was forced to turn and take refuge in Duignan’s house. He joined not only his four colleagues – Jim O’Sullivan, Pat O’Brien (brother), Mick Tierney and Sean Buckley – in the kitchen but also Mrs Ann Duignan and two of her small children, Nancy and Brendan.

A tremendous onslaught followed from the Free State forces. After calling for backup from Nenagh, hundreds of soldiers surrounded the home under siege. All accounts tell of an enormous volume of rifle-fire unleashed upon the house. (Bullet marks on the walls are visible to this day.)

Not only that, the Lewis machine guns reigned down constant fire upon the beleaguered Duignan home, as well as the gratuitous use of mines and grenades.

TRAPPED VOLUNTEERS

Within the house, the trapped volunteers had limited firepower to respond. Worryingly, Mrs Duignan and her smallest children were still present in the house. She took the children to the adjacent bedroom and put them under the bed. (For some reason, despite the Republicans communicating their presence and location to the forces outside, the Duignan’s release was not accommodated during the bombardment.)

The barrage of fire continued relentlessly, making smithereens of the doors and windows. Pat O’Brien recalled “thousands of bullets whizzed round our room, ricocheting from wall to wall, not a bit of plaster was left.

The dust was so thick that we could barely see each other.” Grenades were also introduced into the attack. Rifle grenades hurled at the house blew slates off the roof. Two infamous soldiers, Brennan (sergeant) and Brennan would sneak up to the house and sling grenades in the now open window and door cavities. One exploded, temporarily blinding and deafening Dan and Pat O’Brien and Mick Tierney.

In a bid to relieve their stricken comrades (and close relations), two Silvermines Republicans outside the combat, Danny and William O’Brien, took position on a hill with two rifles about one mile away (where a water tower is today). William began firing on the Free State forces, while Danny would reload the other weapon. Such was their efficiency that the Free State command believed it was a machine gun firing at them. However, both volunteers had to retreat when an armoured car with a mounted Lewis gun was ordered to the top of the hill to return fire.

FIGHTING CONTINUED

Back at Duignan’s farmhouse, the fighting continued. However, armed mainly with just revolvers and a dwindling supply of ammunition, the Republicans had to shoot back sparingly. Some younger Free State forces prematurely took this to mean the end of the battle and casually moved about the yard, exposing themselves to the volunteers inside. Dan O’Brien recalls how they could easily have shot those boys but he “had fought the Tan war for such people and for a future for them. To shoot them would not have been what we had faced the Black and Tans for.”

Eventually the Republicans’ revolvers were emptied. Upon calls for surrender from the Free Staters, Pat O’Brien, the highest ranking officer present, consulted with his comrades. Attaching a white cloth to a stick and poking it out a window, the Republicans surrendered.

The five volunteers were arrested and taken to Limerick, where they were court-martialled and sentenced to death. Those sentences were never carried out, possibly due to the proximity to the end of the Civil War.

BULLET-RIDDLED DOOR

Only at that point was Joe Mangan taken to Nenagh Hospital, carried away on a bullet-riddled door. He succumbed to his injuries three days later. Thousands attended his funeral in Roscrea. Under the close eye of the Free State, he was laid to rest in St Cronan's Cemetery on Abbey Street. Following the sounding of the Last Post on bugle and the dispersal of the crowd, a volley of shots were fired in salute. (This was despite funeral attendees being searched by Free State soldiers earlier.)

As was all too common for young men who lost their lives in action during the War of Independence and Civil War, Joe Mangan had no direct descendants. His extended family had a shop in Roscrea but decades later sold the premises and moved to Dublin.

Commandant Mangan was very popular in his local community and a devout Catholic. He was a true Irish patriot who gave his life defending the Republic.

Joe Mangan was 22 years old when he died. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

SUNDAY COMMEMORATION

The North Tipperary Republican Monuments Committee will hold a commemoration at the site of the Tullamoylan Ambush (Eircode: E45A004) on Sunday, March 12, at 1pm. All are welcome.