I did my leaving cert special essay on that topic. I didn’t work out who killed him either. Sonny O neill was a name mentioned.
Henry Phelan was the first Garda killed in the line of duty
Born in 1899 in Camross, Co. Laois, Henry was an active member of the local IRA flying column in the War of Independence.
After the truce was agreed, Phelan continued working as a farmer in Mountrath but had designs on membership of the Civic Guard.
He applied and was quickly accepted into the force, undergoing a short period of training in the Curragh.
After he qualified he was amongst the first detachment of twenty-six Gardaí sent to the old RIC barracks on Parliament Street in Kilkenny City on 27 September 1922. At the end of October, along with twelve of his colleagues and a sergeant, Phelan was transferred to the town of Callan.
Just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 14 November 1922, Henry Phelan, along with two colleagues, Garda Irwin and Garda Flood, were granted an afternoon’s leave from their superior officer Sergeant Kilroy.
The men had decided to cycle the five miles to Mullinahone in Co Tipperary.
The trip was a recreational one and the Guards’ intention was to buy a sliotar and hurleys for a new team that Guard Phelan was attempting to set up in the Callan district.
Like much of the county of Tipperary, Mullinahone was supposedly under the command of the government at that time but realistically the anti-Treaty IRA held great power in the area.
Phelan succeeded in hjs mission of purchasing the desired item, afterwards deciding to go to Miss Mullally’s licenced premises and general grocers on Kickham Street.
The men ordered and were given a couple of glasses of lemonade which they finished quickly. Just then three armed men rushed into the premises.
The first of the intruders produced a revolver, while the man directly behind him held a rifle level with his hip.
The first man fired a shot in the direction of the three men from a distance of about three or four yards. It hit Garda Phelan in the face and he fell heavily onto the pub’s floor. The belated order was then given by the second man “Hands up.”
The remaining two Gardaí were horrified but complied with the command. The shooter then asked the shocked policemen if they had any arms.
They replied that they did not.
The second raider, who was still pointing a rifle at Garda Irwin and Flood, seemed just as surprised by the shooting as the two Gardaí and he asked his compatriot “What are you after doing; why did you fire?” The first man muttered something inaudible and placed the revolver back in its holster.
The third man was still standing at the door and said nothing during the altercation.
Garda Flood begged the men to allow him come to the aid of the stricken Henry Phelan, who was still lying on his face and hands. They replied “You may.”
They then left, one of them remarking ‘You can take it from me, it was an accident.’
The local doctor came swiftly but could not be of any assistance as the Garda was already dead. Henry Phelan had not spoken after the shot and died almost instantly.
Word spread quickly about the first member of the Civic Guard to be killed in the new State. Phelan’s body was laid out in the pub initially but removed from Mullinahone to Callan by motor car that night.
The locals were already aware of the shooting and large crowds awaited the hearse.
A large crowd gathered to mourn at the Garda’s funeral in Callan.
Several Gardaí carried the coffin while a contingent of soldiers watched on before the cortege travelled onwards to his native county where he was buried.
The inquest into Garda Phelan’s death was held at 12 p.m. on Thursday, 16 November. It heard that he had died instantly after being shot in the jaw. A deeply affected Miss Mullally appeared in the stand and outlined the events of the day, agreeing to write down the name of the man she believed had carried out the shooting.
A verdict of murder against persons unknown was agreed.
The shooting may have contributed to a dark turn in the civil war.
Three days after Garda Phelan’s death, four anti-Treaty IRA soldiers became the first people to be executed by the Irish State after being found to have guns in their possession illegally. The executions would come thick and fast from then on, 81 republicans being executed in the course of the short conflict.
As for the actual shooting of Henry Phelan, it would be almost two years before anyone was detained.
In August 1924 local houses suffered surprise raids. Two named local republicans were finally arrested by Gardaí and charged with Phelan’s killing.
Neither man was alleged to have fired the shot but both were described as “aiders and abettors” to the crime.
When arraigned, rhe prisoners sat facing away from the judge and refused to take their hats off their heads or stand up, merely stating that they refused to recognise the courts.
Apart from partial identification, no other real evidence was forthcoming and the men were acquitted.
No-one else ever faced trial for the shooting.
Despite the lack of conviction, the death of the unarmed young Garda was extremely unpopular nationally.
Less than one month after his death, a general order by the IRA was circulated instructing volunteers not to fire on unarmed Gardaí.
3 Likes
Random guess - Beal na Blath?
No, as a man told me today "what they’ve done to the Beal na Blath site is rather unfortunate "
I passed it once, it struck me as in the wrong place?
Ya the monument is neither here nor there. You’ve a lot of imagining to do with very few (if any) visual aids.
The above is the Kilmichael ambush site and they have loads of little boards with info and markers at all the key locations. You’ll see the headstone / marker on the far side of the road marking the position of Section 2. The photo is taken from the spot Section 1 were posted.
2 Likes
I’ve been meaning to go to Kilmichael, I’ll make it my business to go this summer 
I think they’ve done a right job with Kilmichael.
2 Likes
Is that the laneway on the center-right that leads/led to the quarry? Where they sent the lad who came along ahead of the Auxies with a horse and car?
1 Like
Ya pretty sure that’s it.
Tom Barry command post just below my position behind a low stone wall.
I was wrong above it was one half of section 3 across the road and that raised ground behind the monument and car is the Section 2 position.
1 Like
It’s amazing this isn’t brought up in the Irish History Syllabus at all really, or how little it is referenced in the context of the whole War of Independence.
Was it the biggest loss of life for the IRA in a single action during the whole conflict?
Outside of local history very few ‘actions’ are referenced in the general narrative of the war. Makes sense too as very few individual actions were very significant in shaping the outcome. If Kilmichael had never happened it wouldn’t have mattered very much to how things played out. Bloody Sunday and the Customs House genuinely were very significant which is why they are highlighted.
I think Crossbarry is the only engagement that is dramatically underplayed. It’s almost an obscure episode in the popular history of the war, when it was almost a complete catastrophe. That they managed to fight their way out of it was in large part due to British incompetence, but it was still something of a miracle.
2 Likes
Dromkeen was an important escalation in February 1921