Volunteer Paddy McCarthy
90th Anniversary Commemoration
Assemble: Clara Road, Millstreet.
Parade up Main Street and return to Mill Lane
MacCurtain/McSwiney RFB In Attendance
2.00pm Sunday 31st Oct.
Speaker: Bandon Sinn Féin Cllr. Rachel McCarthy
Fáilte Roimh Cách / All Welcome
Paddy McCarthy (8/Feb/1896-22/Nov/1920)
The late Paddy McCarthy was born in Meelin and reared in Freemount, not far from Millstreet. He became an active member of Óglaigh na hÉireann following the 1916 Easter Rising.
On May 8, 1918 he was charged with a gun offence and imprisoned for 18 months.
He was held in Belfast and in Manchester where he managed to escape in October 1919.
He took part in the capture of Mallow Barracks in September 1920, which was the only military barracks to be taken over in the war.
Captain McCarthy met his fate on Mill Lane on the night of the 22nd November 1920, when his Flying Column took on the British Forces in Millstreet.
Paddy McCarthy is the first name on the monument in the Square. Annually the local Sinn Fein Cumann hold a commemoration in honour of his selfless dedication and service to his country.
For more, read the speach given at the 2006 commemoration by Jack Lane of the Aubane Historical Society.
For more information the Duhallow Martyrs Cumann, Sinn Féin can be contacted at:
Tel: 087-9682155
email: <Duhallow Martyrs Cumann>
.
Paddy McCarthy of Rowels was a noble young man
Whose life was cut short in his youthful elan
From the bullet of a gun fired by a Black and Tan
Going back more than nine decades in time quite a span
That he was a brave fellow of him cannot be denied
In the darkness of night in Millstreet Town he died
From a bullet through one of his eyes that shattered his brain
In a gun fight with the Black and Tans in old Mill View Lane
A Duhallow hero of Ireland’s War of Independence he never lived to see
Of British occupation his beloved Country free
His rendezvous with death in Mill View Lane his life’s destiny
But sadly he paid a huge price for his bravery
He did not live to join in the celebrations when self Government was won
But his mother in him gave birth to a brave son
That we are born as mortals surely not a lie
But he loved his Country enough for it for to die
In Millstreet Town in a gunfight in old Mill View Lane
He died from the bullet of a Tan gun that shattered his brain
For the love of his Country with his life he did pay
But his legend lives on in Duhallow today.
“Paddy McCarthy Of Rowels” is by Francis Duggan
http://francisrhymer.blogspot.ie/2014/08/paddy-mccarthy-of-rowels.html