By Veronica Corr
On Friday afternoon, which was incidentally Valentine’s Day, descendants of PJ O’- Daly, one of the Old IRA volunteers, who carried out an attack on Ballytrain Barracks, exactly one hundred years previous, gathered at the now unused building, which was an Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks at the time of the attack in 1920, and later became a Garda barracks before it was closed down.
The Irish Republican Army (1919– 1922) (in later years, known as the ‘Old IRA’), was recognised by the First Dáil as the legitimate army of the Irish Republic in April 1921. This event was of significance because it marked the beginning of the War of Independence in Co. Monaghan. Dermot Daly, a grandnephew of PJ’s, who organised the short informal ceremony began by welcoming the ‘Red Daly’ clan to the site of the 100th anniversary of the Ballytrain ambush: “We come here to commemorate and acknowledge the part played by our grandfather….
