Fighting for the Cause

The untold stories of some of the men and women of Co. Kerry who gave their all in Ireland's fight for independence.In Fighting for the Cause well-known Kerry historian Dr Tim Horgan tells the stories of some of the Kingdom's extraordinary men and women who fought for an Irish Republic. They include the Fenian Jerry O'Sullivan, who blew up a wall of Clerkenwell prison in 1867 in an attempt to free two prisoners; Bridget Gleeson and Nora Brosnan, who were both incarcerated for their Republican activities; John Cronin, whose attacks on the British forces in 1920 were so audacious that he was considered a maverick by his own brigade commanders; Pat Allman, who was hidden above the Gap of Dunloe to recover from bullet wounds sustained in a fight with Free State forces; Paddy Landers, who spent nine months in Limerick Gaol, from where he would attempt to broker peace during the Civil War; and David Fleming, whose sustained hunger strikes in the 1940s would destroy his health and lead to long-term psychological trauma.

Tim Horgan is the author of Dying for the Cause and co-editor of The Men Will Talk to Me: Kerry Interviews by Ernie O'Malley. A well-respected historian from Tralee, Tim gives regular talks on the War of Independence in the Kerry area. Tim comes from a proud Republican tradition as his grandmother, Madge Clifford, was secretary to both Ernie O'Malley and Liam Lynch.