19/05/2026
Kilmeena ambush.
Remembering The Kilmeena Ambush🏴
The IRA in west Mayo was relatively quiet until January 1921, when Michael Kilroy took over command of the Brigade after Tom Derrig was arrested by the RIC. Kilroy formed a relatively large flying column of 40–50 men to carry out attacks on Crown forces in the area.
In May 1921, the West Mayo IRA attacked some RIC barracks in the area, but on May 6th, three IRA Volunteers were killed and two captured when they were surprised by a RIC patrol.
In the early hours of May 19th 1921, the flying column of 41 IRA men took up a position close to Knocknabola Bridge. The British convoy, travelling from Newport to Westport, consisted of two Crossley lorries and one Ford touring car, a total of about 30 men.
The convoy did not arrive until 3 pm, and its arrival sparked a two-hour firefight. In the battle, one RIC man was wounded and later died. The British regrouped around the house of the parish priest, Father Conroy, and launched a counterattack.
Four IRA volunteers were killed. They were Seamus McEvilly, Thomas O'Donnell, Patrick Staunton and Sean Collins. Paddy Jordan of the Castlebar battalion was injured and died later at Bricens Hospital in Dublin. Seven more IRA men were wounded.
The remainder of the column, carrying their wounded, fled over the mountains to Skerdagh, where they had safe houses. However, the police tracked them there and, in another exchange of fire, another IRA man was killed, Jim Brown from Newport, along with one RIC Constable and a Black & Tan.
The Black and Tans threw the dead and wounded IRA men onto the street outside the RIC barracks in nearby Westport, causing widespread revulsion among the local people.
The Marquis of Sligo visited the barracks to complain about their treatment of the enemy dead. At the funerals of those killed, in Castlebar, the authorities allowed the close family to attend and forbade the draping of the Irish tricolour over the coffins.
The IRA in West Mayo swore to avenge their fallen comrades.
