Ballymacandy: Fascinating history of a Kerry ambush and what went unspoken

Owen O’Shea’s meticulously researched history of an IRA ambush during the War of Independence where five men died reveals the complexity of the operation and the similar histories of the men on either side

More than 40 IRA volunteers were involved in attacking a cycling unit of 12 RIC officers and Black and Tans on the road between Milltown and Castlemaine

HISTORY

Ballymacandy: The Story of a Kerry Ambush

By Owen O’Shea

Merrion Press, €14.95

“Wait for a dead man’s shoes and you’ll end up barefoot,” warns an old English adage about the importance of taking action. At the removal of four police officers killed in a Co Kerry IRA ambush 100 years ago this month, however, schoolboy Thomas ‘Totty’ O’Sullivan saw no need to wait. Walking behind the bodies as they were transported on carts, ...