THE commemoration events planned to mark the 100th anniversary of the Headford Ambush have been postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The ambush on British troops at Headford, near Glenflesk, occurred on March 21, 1921, and it was staged by 33 members of the Kerry IRA No. 2 Brigade Flying Column. It was the largest ambush in Kerry during the War of Independence.
Chairman of the Commemoration Committee, Derry Healy, said it’s very unfortunate that the centenary commemoration can’t proceed as planned.
“This is something that we’ve been looking forward to for many years, given its significance in Irish history, but public health must come first and, hopefully, we’ll do it all properly in March 2022.
“These men are gone, but they’re not forgotten,” he said.
Of the 13 people that died in the Headford Ambush, eight were British soldiers, two were IRA volunteers – Dan Allman and Jimmy Baily – and three were cattle dealers.
A three-year-old girl was badly wounded in both legs when a bullet passed through her father’s leg as he sought to shelter her.
The attack, led by Dan Allman and Tom McEllistrim, targeted a detachment of British troops due to return by train from Kenmare to Tralee.
Allman, along with Jimmy Baily, died in the attack. McEllistrim went on to be a Fianna Fáil TD.
The ambush ended when the Mallow-Tralee train arrived. It had inadvertently brought British reinforcements and the IRA withdrew from the vicinity of the station.
The Headford Ambush was one of the largest engagements of the whole conflict and was certainly the largest engagement between British forces and the IRA to take place in Kerry during the War of Independence.
Last October, the government allocated €10,000 to the local commemoration committee in Headford to help renovate the existing monument, erected in 1971, which had fallen into disrepair.
Extensive work has also been done to landscape the whole monument site which is located about 300 yards from where the actual ambush took place.
For the first time, the names of all those who fought in the ambush will be recorded at the site.
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