Cook Street - May 8 1921

Constable Frederick Sterland was spending a Sunday afternoon drinking in Cork City. The 28 year old from Birmingham was off duty but, he was a marked man. Commandant Michael Murphy, 2nd Battalion Cork No.1 Brigade, described Sterland as "an able intelligence man brought over from England specially as a secret service agent for the British."

Sterland had been in Ireland for four months before the Cork Brigade got their man on a sunny Spring Sunday in 1921. In the weeks leading up to Sterlands death he was closely watched by members of D Company who befriended him in the pubs he frequented across the city. On the afternoon of his death he began his drinking at Desmond's Hotel on Pembroke Street where he met members of D Company. After a few jars they decided to go to the Rob Roy Hotel on Cook Street.

While Sterland and his 'drinking buddies' went to the lounge upstairs at the Rob Roy, volunteers gathered in the junction of South Mall and Cook Street. One of the volunteers entered the Rob Roy and closed the door in the hallway leading out to the street. The proprietor Mr Evans noticed the IRA activity and protested against it but then a small number of British Soldiers arrived on Cook Street and knocked on the door to see if it was open. Mr Evans was instructed at gunpoint by the volunteer to tell them to come back in an hour as there was a cleaning job going on!  Amazingly the soldiers agreed and went off towards St Patrick Street.

(The Rob Roy on Cook Street, no longer a hotel but still serving pints!)

Sterland heard the commotion downstairs and left the lounge to see what was going on. As he walked down stairs he was ordered to put his hands up by the IRA volunteers who followed behind him. Sterland was marched forward and as the door was opened he was shot.

After the shots rang out, the Volunteers then rushed up Cook Street towards South Mall where they sped off in a car in the direction of Greenmount.

                        (Junction of Cook Street and South Mall, circa 1950s.)

(In later years, the Old IRA Men's Association was based just a few doors away from where Sterland was shot. The association later moved to a premises at Morrison's Island.)

Cook Street / St Patrick Street - September 9 1919

At the junction of Cook Street and St Patricks Street 23 year old Bryan Crowley was blown off his bicycle by a British Army convoy on the afternoon of September 9th 1919. Crowley was an IRA volunteer from Dunkettle and was hit by a lorry carrying prisoners. 

                                  The junction of Cook St/Patrick Street in the 1960s



Crowley, who was a labourer, was unfortunate to be crossing the junction at the time Private Thomas Williams was driving the British lorry at an errractic speed. The prisoners onboard were bring transferred from Fermoy to Cork Gaol and the military escort included 2 armoured cars.

When Crowley was hit the convoy stopped. A crowd gathered around and the officer in charge ordered his men to shoot the prisoners if there was any trouble. In the inquest which followed, Volunteer Byran Crowley's death was deemed accidental.

37 Cook Street

In the Spring of 1919 police raided the offices of the Cork County Board at 37 Cook Street. During the raid, the policemen seized the set of jerseys of the Cork team. They left the premises with the jerseys which were never seen again but, this instance of suppression put in motion Cork's colour change from blue and gold to the now famous red and white.

Before they sported and played in red and white, Cork hurlers and footballers wore blue jerseys with an large golden “C” embroidered on the chest. A replica of this old jersey was released in 2016 to coincide with the centenary of the 1916 Rising.

After the 1916 Rising the British authorities viewed the GAA as a hotbed of Republican activity and in 1919 the county board offices in the city centre were raided. Among the items seized were the blue county team jerseys. The Cork hurlers were only days away from a Munster Semi final and without their jerseys they found themselves in a precarious situation.

As luck turned out, the Father O’Leary Temperance Hall team from the Lough had just annexed with St Finbarrs. Con Sheehan, who ran a pub down Barrack Street, had heard of Corks jersey plight and he suggested to the County Board that as Fr Learys had no more use for their red and white kit that they should use it for the jerseyless county team. So, the team of pioneers handed over their jerseys to the county board via a publican! Because there were only 15 jerseys from the Fr O’Leary team, the county board made a quick order into the Munster Arcade for 6 white pullovers to serve as substitutes jerseys.

The 1919 Cork team with the new Red & White jerseys!

With their new colours the Cork team played against Tipperary in the Munster hurling semi final at the Athletic grounds. Apart from it being the first time Cork lined out in the red and white, it was also the first time the price of a match ticket increased. Entry at the turnstiles went up from 6 pence to a shilling and some disgruntled supporters refused to pay. Instead they broke through some sheet iron at the back of the goal and gained entry into the grounds to watch the match for free!


Cork got through Tipperary, 2-04 to 2-03 and took their new colours to Limerick for the Munster Hurling final. Cork convincingly beat Limerick on a scoreline of 3-05 to 1-06 and their next opponents were Galway in the All Ireland semi final on September 7th. Still clad in their new colours, Cork gave the tribesmen an unmerciful beating of 3-08 to 0-02.


The next stop for the red and white of Cork was the All Ireland Hurling Final at Croke Park on September 21st. Corks opponents were a much fancied Dublin side but the rebels unleashed a fine game of hurling on the dubs and beat them 6-04 to 2-04 to claim All Ireland honours. The Cork hurlers ended a 15 year wait to bring an All Ireland title back to Leeside. The new colours were considered lucky and the Cork County Board decided to retain them.

Today the red and white colours are deeply associated with Cork GAA but if the oppressive authorities of 1919 hadn’t seized the original county colours then perhaps blue would have remained the standard colours of the rebel county.

            Captain of the 1919 Cork team Jim 'Major' Kennedy of Carrigtwohill.





The first red & white Cork team 1919:

1 Ned Grey (Carrigtwohill)

2 Paddy O’Halloran (St Mary’s)

3 Jackie Murphy (Blackrock)

4 Mick Murphy (Blackrock)

5 Frank Kelleher (Shamrocks)

6 Con Sheehan (Redmond’s)

7 Jim Hasset (Collegian’s)

8 Tim Nagle (St Mary’s)

9 John O’Keefe (Carrigtwohill)

10 Paddy Ahern (Blackrock)

11 Daniel Ring (St Finbarrs)

12 Jimmy Kennedy (C) (Carrigtwohill)

13 Con Lucy (Carrigtwohill)

14 Dick O’Gorman (St Finbarrs)

15 John Barry-Murphy (Cloughduv)

Douglas Street - April 19 1921

Placed high on a house at 82 Douglas Street there is a stone plaque. It's inscription:
"In loving memory of Captain Tadhg O'Sullivan C Company 2nd Battalion 1st Brigade of the IRA in Cork who was murdered in this house on the 19th April 1921.
Irish police of the King of England did the treacherous deed.
May his soul be on the right hand of god."

  Tadhg O'Sullivan was a 28 year old from Annagh Beg, Rathmore, Co. Kerry. He was in Cork working at Fords and was active in the Republican movement on Leeside. 

The Republican monument in O'Sullivans native Rathmore. 

In 1920 he was sent to jail in Belfast where he went on hunger strike. When he was released he came back to Cork where he resumed his IRA activities which marked him out as a wanted man by the British authorities.

On the evening of April 19th 1921 O'Sullivan was walking back to his lodgings on Douglas Street when he spotted plain clothes detectives searching people near the top of White Street.

 Unfortunately for the Kerryman, he was spotted slipping into No. 82 Douglas Street by the notorious Sergeant Hollywood.
Sergeant Hollywood blew his whistle and led his men in pursuit of O'Sullivan. The young IRA Captain was pursued up stairs and as he was fleeing out through a window to escape onto the roof Sergeant Hollywood aimed and fired.

O'Sullivan surrounded by his grieving family. 

O'Sullivan's bullet riddled body fell out onto the backyard. Witnesses claimed Sergeant Hollywood had unloaded his whole chamber of bullets into the Kerryman.
Sergeant Hollywood was a prime target of the Cork IRA, he was responsible for many upsets, including the killing of O'Sullivan. Despite numerous attempts to 'get' Hollywood, the IRA never did. Making him one of the very few who survived the guns of the Cork Brigade.

The funeral of Captain Tadgh O'Sullivan took placec on April 22nd. From St Finbarrs chapel, not far from the scene of his death, O'Sullivan was taken to St Finbarrs cemetery where he was laid to rest in the Republican plot.

St Finbarrs South Chapel, Dunbar Street.

 Much to the distress of his family and comrades, Captain O'Sullivan's coffin was escorted by heavily armed British Soldiers.

Grave of Cpt O'Sullivan at St Finbarrs Cemetery. 

College Road - RIC Barracks

College Road RIC Barracks sat in a prominent position at the junction of Gillabbey Street, Connacht Avenue and St Finbarrs Road. It was one of 9 substations forming part of the RIC's South District in Cork city. The HQ Station was located at Union Quay.

The tower like building contained six constables. When the auxiliaries arrived in Cork in 1920 a handful of them took up residency at the College Road Barracks. Because of its close proximity to the County Gaol, (now UCC), the College Road Barracks did not come under serious attack from the Cork Brigade. Although some small incidents did occur.

Today - the former RIC Barracks on College Rd.

On armistice day 1918 Volunteers of the First Cork Brigade broke a comrade out of the gaol so, they cut the telephone lines connecting the College Road Barracks to the jail up the road!

The rear of the old barracks, stone wall still intact. Red stone pillar of old back gate still visable. 

 

In February 1921 a Black & Tan from the College Road Barracks fell victim to an IRA ambush party as he was leaving the County Gaol to head back to his fortress on College Road with his fellow tans.

An active IRA Company worked in the midst of the College Road Barracks. "A" Company, 2nd Battalion , Cork No.1 Brigade was better known as The College Company. It consisted of students from the Queens College Cork, now known as UCC. 

The revolutionaries in UCC were right under the nose of the crown forces yet their activities went unoticed. On one side of the campus was the County Gaol while on the other side was the College Road Barracks!

Witness statement of Michael O'Donoghue.

The College Company consisted mostly of medical and engineering students. Their meeting place was in the clock tower of The Quad. There they planned and prepared and even hid arms and uniforms and never were they discovered by either the British authorties or the college authorties!

St Augustine's on Washington St. The College Company church.

Military Witness Statement of Peter Kearney of the College Company.

During the Civil War the College Road Barracks was taken over by the Free State. It became the scene of a fierce firefight in 1922 when Anti-treaty IRA attacked it. Surrounding buildings still bear the scars from that time. 

Castle Street/Cornmarket Street - March 16 1922

Shortly before midnight on the eve of St Patrick's Day 1922, the Parnell Guards Fife & Drum Band were marching up Castle Street, heading in the direction of Cornmarket Street when they were stopped by a patrol of Irish Republican Policemen.
The Parnell Guards Band were from Fair Lane on the north side of the Lee and their loyalty lay with the pro-treaty side. When they were stopped by the anti-treaty Republican police things got heated.

At the junction of Castle street and Cornmarket street the two rival groups clashed. As stones were thrown and sticks were used, shots were fired and one man fell dead.
Patrick Horgan of Wolfe Tone Street was a member of the Parnell Guards band and died as a result of a bullet fired from the gun of a Republican policeman.
The clash between the two groups managed to make news down under where the Barrier Miner newspaper from Broken Hill, Australia, reported on the incident on its front page.

The Australian newspaper stated "A Republican police patrol attacks Parnell band." It also stated that the band telegraphed Michael Collins to request a government inquiry. Michael Collins had been in Cork just days before the incident. He was speaking at a mass rally on the Grand Parade where he was selling the treaty to the masses. The rally was marred by crowd trouble which saw rival pro and anti treaty IRA men pull guns on each other. Cork city in the spring of 1922 was entering into another phase of bloodshed, with the civil war just around the corner the rebel streets were a tinder box.