From the nineteen seventies two Irish champions from Annagloor of we have to recall
Jim Twohig in athletics and Denis Long in gaelic football
In their prime against Ireland’s best with success they did compete
And in sports they are amongst the best of Millstreet
But a century before them one who never competed in athletics or played gaelic football
Was one old timers of my young years i often heard recall
His name Matty Fitz he lived in Annagloor
A brave man who did speak out for Ireland’s rural poor
When against the foreign based government in Ireland few dared to speak out
Of his true feelings the brave Matty Fitz never did leave anyone in doubt
As a leading member of the Duhallow Land League movement many a stirring speech by him made
Yet in his honour never a memorial or a parade
Many years before the historical ambush at Tureengarriffe Glen
The brave Matty Fitz proved himself a man amongst men
The hero of the countryside west of Millstreet Town
But sad to say his life story in notebook was never written down
His granddaughter Liz McAuliffe is Annagloor’s oldest person today
Though close to if not in her nineties young at heart she does stay
The nearest living relative to an honorable man of renown
The bravest of the brave men west of Millstreet Town.
by Francis Duggan
