Fergal O'Hanlon
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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 the Pearse Column of the Irish Republican Army.[1]
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[edit] 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 footballer.[2][3]
[edit] Brookeborough raid
Aged 20, he was killed along with Seán South while taking part in an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (R.U.C.) barracks in Brookeborough, 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 in Dublin.[4][5]
[edit] 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.[6]
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.[7][8]
A fictionalized O'Hanlon is the narrator of Dominic Behan's ballad, The Patriot Game.
His sister Pádraigín Uí Mhurchadha is now a Sinn Féin Councillor on Monaghan Urban Council.
 Monument erected in memory of Fergal O'Hanlon. |
 Monument in Moane's Cross, Fermanagh to South and O'Hanlon. |
 Original political poster of Fergal O'Hanlon. |
[edit] References
- ^ Hoganstand.com - GAA Football & Hurling
- ^ Bishop, Patrick & Mallie, Eamonn (1987). The Provisional IRA. Corgi Books, p. 42. ISBN 0-552-13337-X.
- ^ Ella O'Dwyer. "A sister remembers". An Phoblacht. Retrieved on 28 May 2007.
- ^ Sinn Fein news
- ^ Valerie Robinson. "IRA men's deaths that caught whole country's imagination". Irish News. Retrieved on 28 May 2007.
- ^ Coogan, Tim (2000). The I.R.A.. Harper Collins, p. 313. ISBN 0-00-653155-5.
- ^ Sabhat/O'Hanlon 50th anniversary: Capacity crowd attends Memorial Lecture
- ^ Seán Sabhat Commemoration: Positive response from Paisley would move situation forward
