Fergal O'Hanlon

Fergal O'Hanlon (1939 – 1 January, 1957) was a member of the Irish Republican Army from County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland.

He was a draughtsman employed by Monaghan County Council, and he played Gaelic football.

Aged 17, he was killed along with Seán South while taking part in an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Brookeborough, Northern Ireland. Several other IRA members were wounded in the botched attack. The IRA fled the scene in a dump truck. They abandoned it near the border. They left South and O'Hanlon, both then unconscious, in a cow byre, and crossed into the Republic of Ireland on foot. The wounded IRA men were treated as "car crash victims" by sympathetic staff in the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Dublin. Sean Garland is widely rumoured to have taken part in the attack.

Tim Pat Coogan says that O'Hanlon's mother remained firmly committed to the IRA and was hurt by the suggestion that there was an alternative to IRA activity.

A stone/marble monument now stands at the spot where South and O'Hanlon lost their lives.

A fictionalized O'Hanlon is the narator of Dominic Behan's ballad, The Patriot Game.

Rate this Article

Was this article helpful?

Not at all Definitely                  1 2 3 4 5