3 December 2009 Edition

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Four martyrs remembered in Andersonstown

Annie Cahill at Four Martyrs commemoration

Annie Cahill at Four Martyrs commemoration

FOUR IRA Volunteers executed by Free State troops on 8 December 1922 were remembered in a pageant of song and readings organised by the Andersonstown Historical and Cultural Society last Saturday 28 November.
In reprisal for the IRA’s killing of leading Free State TD Seán Hales, Volunteers Joe McKelvey, Liam Mellows, Dick Barrett and Rory O’Connor were taken out and shot.  
During Saturday night’s pageant, young republicans formed a flying column and took up positions to escort a colour party which carried the national and provincial flags onto the stage.
Readings from letters and other documents outlining the thoughts and feelings of the Volunteers in the hours before their deaths were read by leading republicans from the Andersonstown area while Annie Cahill sang a song in honour of the Four Martyrs.
Ciarán Doherty, a nephew of Hunger Striker Kieran Doherty TD, played a lament during the lowering of the flags.

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland