PART 2
BY JOHN FITZGERALD
Continuing the story of the infamous Friary Street Ambush: If you missed part one last week you can read it on the Kilkenny Observer website…
The Threecastles group was to disarm the rearguard of the military patrol outside the Friary church. The Kells men were to waylay the ass and cart, its driver, and the two soldiers that walked closely behind it, at Gargan’s stonecutting yard. The Bennettsbridge group had the task of disarming the advance guard of the patrol outside Hackett’s pub. All the volunteers had strict orders not to fire at the patrol.
On the evening of Sunday February 19th, the eve of ambush day, Tom Kearney (the Racecourse) and Tim Gaffney drove to Dillons of Cuffesgrange in a pony and trap. Early next morning, Phil Dillon took this horse drawn transport into the yard of Smithwick’s Bottling Store, off Friary Street.
His orders were to await the arrival of captured weaponry after the ambush. He was to take this out onto an agreed meeting point on the Callan Road and hand it over to Kearney and Gaffney.
From shortly before nine a.m., Tom Kearney had positioned himself on a hill in Shellumsrath. His vantage point gave him an excellent view through binoculars of Walkin Street and the top of Friary Street. He expected to see the pony and trap once it set off with the guns and ammo. Jack Maher and Tom Hurley flanked Tom as he scanned the relevant section of the city.
As nine a.m. approached, the men of the ambush team cycled into Kilkenny. The Threecastles men left their bikes outside St. Mary’s Cathedral, while the Kells and Bennettsbridge groups dropped theirs in the bottling store yard.
Ned Dunne and Dick McEvoy (Threecastles) entered and exited the Capuchin Friary church several times as they frantically awaited the arrival of their colleagues Michael Dermody and Tom Hennessy. A minute or two later, they turned up and the four Threecastles men, standing in the middle of the street, discussed the situation rapidly.
They broke into pairs: Dermody and Hennessy took up positions in Garden Row laneway (in later years Regent Lane) at the side of the street opposite the Friary. Dunne and McEvoy re-entered the church. Inside they noticed a friendly local friar, Fr Pat, kneeling in prayer. He gave them a knowing nod and Dunne was sure the priest also made the sign of the cross at them.
From their positions in Garden Row Lane, Hennessy and Dermody fixed their eyes nervously on the entrance to Friary Street. Any second now, they surmised; the military patrol would swing into the street and begin its languid approach.
At the top of Friary Street, the Bennettsbridge men settled into position at Hackett’s pub. Ned Gooley and Danny Murphy lay down at the jamb of the pub door. Dick Fitzgerald stood behind them, while John Greene and Paddy Murphy stood at the corner of Friary Street -or Hackett’s Corner as it was called because the pub formed the corner-piece of the street. One of them pretended to be reading a newspaper and the other leaned on a bike, the idea being to appear casual and not give the game away.
Meanwhile, the Kells men had joined Jim Brien in Gargan’s stonecutting yard. All the rebels anxiously waited for the patrol to appear at the bottom of the street. While they waited, Martin Mulhall had already cycled past the ration party as it set off from the barracks.
He had checked to ensure that it consisted of the same number of men as on previous days, and everything seemed to be as normal. From High Street, Martin cycled into Friary Street. He signalled the Threecastles group that the patrol was approaching and would soon swing into Friary Street.
He halted at Gargan’s yard and gave the same information to Jim Brien and the men from Kells and, finally, he waved at Paddy Murphy and John Greene at Hackett’s Corner that the moment of truth was just a minute or two away.
As he cycled out of Friary Street, Ned Dunne and Dick McEvoy from their positions in the Friary porch noticed a door to a house on the opposite side of the street opening. The house was situated further up the street from them, directly facing Gargan’s stonecutting yard. A woman emerged from the doorway, scratched her head, and began looking up and down the street.
McEvoy wanted to shout at her to go back into the house…but could not. The patrol had just entered Friary Street and was trudging towards them.
To be continued…
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(More stories of those bygone times can be read in my book Callan in Words and Pictures, which is available from Amazon)
