The Ballymacandy Ambush
Introduction
from Chronology
Five RIC men, who are part of a cycle patrol, are killed in an ambush at
Ballymacandy
between Castlemaine and Milltown, Co. Kerry. The ambush is carried out by
men from the 6th Battalion, Kerry No. 2 Brigade, IRA under Tom
O'Connor and the Kerry No. 1 Brigade Flying Column under Tadgh Brosnan.
More Detail
The RIC men killed were DI Michael McCaughey, Sgt James Collery,
Constable Joseph Cooney, Constable John McCormack and Constable John Quirk or
Quirke. An IRA man (Jerry Myles) was wounded. All except Constable
McCormack (who died in hospital in Tralee on June 3rd or 7th)
died at the scene.
Gallagher says that there were nine RIC men in the patrol and that the
ambush party consisted of 18 to 20 men but they had only one rifle and one
carbine between them with the rest of the IRA men armed with shotguns until
additional men from "The Hut" arrived with five rifles. O’Halpin and Ó Corráin say that
there were 12 men in the RIC patrol and 44 men in the IRA’s ambushing
party. The IRA got 8 or 9 rifles, 6
revolvers and a quantity of ammunition. O’Shea says that there were 12 RIC men
in the cycle patrol and they were cycling back from Tralee to Killorglin where
they had gone in the morning to collect their pay. The RIC men who escaped were Constable
William Harvie; Constable Henry Bowles; Constable Patrick Bergin; Constable
William Twomey; Constable Frederick Beard. Constable James Hearn and Constable
Patrick Foley.
Owen O’Shea has written a detailed account of this ambush in his book Ballymacandy – The Story of a Kerry Ambush
(2021). O’Shea names 68 IRA men who took
part in the ambush and a further 38 – mostly Fianna Éireann
- who took part in scouting/outpost duties.
(He also names a further 19 IRA men from the Firies
Company, 2nd Battalion, Kerry No. 2 Brigade who were “late for
ambush”.) O’Shea quotes different
sources on how many of the IRA men were armed with rifles and how many with
shotguns but it would seem that a substantial proportion had shotguns. Three of the seven RIC men who escaped the
ambush were wounded. The IRA recovered 12 rifles; 7 or 8 revolvers and a
quantity of ammunition. The doctor who
attended a wounded constable (Constable McCormack) was later said by the
Military Court of Inquiry not to have provided adequate care but no further
action was taken against him.
It is reported that Constable Cooney said as he lay dying said to the
priest (Fr Alexander ‘Sandy’ O’Sullivan) who was administering last rites “Tell
the Glencar lads that it wasn’t I [who] shot Joe Taylor” (See
Feb-27-21/1).
No reprisals were carried out by Crown Forces in the wake of this ambush
which was very unusual.
O’Farrell says that Myles was killed in action but this is not confirmed
by O’Halpin & Ó Corráin.
O’Shea. says that, even though he
continued to suffer ill health, Myles did not die until 1950. (O’Shea (2021), pg
160).