Celtic Diary Wednesday November 28: Assault and Flattery

RALPH

The Orange who didn’t fall too far from the tree,oh I wish I’d said that!

CAPTION

Naw,unprintable.

Caption : Things get out of control as Ally McCoist Sets fire to one of his farts.

You can only draw one conclusion when “the son of Satan” is fast tracked into the upper echelons of Scottish refereeing. I have yet to read one positive remark made about Dallas junior, every adjective has been used to describe his ability or lack off ability.
It seems to be a closed shop belonging exclusively to the funny hand shakers. His refereeing performances are absolutely mince, but more than that, behind this fraternity is the rule makers. The rules themselves are ludicrous, like, a player is sent off and misses the next relevant game, but it is the team that he is playing against that is not rewarded, its the teams following that benefits. Surely in this day and age, that rule could be changed in that, the next time that the player plays the team he was sent off against, he misses that game, so benefitting the team he was sent off against. Simple common sense rule changes could make a difference, this being only one change, others could also be changed to make the rules simpler and more understandable. But all football associations live in the past, the “that’s how we always do it” attitude is ridiculous. Time for another refreshed rule book, modernise the rules, make the game better….

Let’s not forget Tom Barry today.
On the 28th day of November, the Auxiliaries, who were stationed at Macroom Castle, had created terror among the citizens in these local districts. House raids, beating men, taunting women and taking pot shots at civilians who worked in the fields was their method of intimidating the people. The intention was to dampen the spirits of Volunteers. The activities of these Auxiliaries encroached on the Cork No 3 Brigade area, the border of which is just down the road from Kilmichael. On Sundays previous to this, these Auxiliaries travelled in Crossley tenders as they went on their rampage. So they had to be apprehended within Cork No 1 Brigade area — on the stretch of road before they reached Gleann crossroads, which led in different directions, just west of Kilmichael. Tom Barry felt there should be no further delay in challenging them.

PREPARATION

Tom Barry had been appointed Training Officer and Commanding Officer of the 3rd West Cork Brigade Flying Column. This spot was carefully chosen. Barry borrowed an IRA tunic from Paddy O’Brien in order to slow down any approaching enemy lorry. At 2am on the morning of 28 November, the Column met in Sullivan’s Ahalina, outside Enniskeane. Each man was armed with a rifle and 35 rounds of ammunition; a few had revolvers and Barry had two Mills bombs.

Fr O’Connell had heard the men’s confessions at the side of the road. It was 3am on this extremely cold, wet night when the men were told that they were moving to Kilmichael to take on the dreaded Macroom-based Auxiliaries.

Barry and his men walked through by-roads and cross country, mainly in silence. They trudged on, locked in their own thoughts as the November rain lashed against them. They were drenched when they reached Kilmichael. Meanwhile, Pat Deasy, who had been ill during training, had been replaced by another man. Now well again, Deasy had followed the Column close behind, and pleaded with Barry to participate in the ambush. Barry agreed.

It was 8.15am when the Column reached the ambush position. The men were wet, cold and hungry. Barry gave them their positions and told them that the terrain allowed for no retreat.

Barry’s plan was straightforward. He would be at the Command Post, supported by three picked marksmen.

THE AMBUSH

Section 1, was up on the rocks, in from the Command Post. Section 2, was just behind the monument. Section 3 was subdivided, with half of the men just around the bend and the other half across the road. Two scouts were north of the road and one south of the Command post.

The hours passed slowly. The men, without food since 6 o’clock the previous evening, lay in their rain-sodden clothes. Then the people in an isolated house sent down a few buckets of tea and a homemade cake — all these people had — but this meagre supply of food did not go far. The men waited, and the day dragged. As the day wore on it began to freeze, so that the clothes froze on their bodies as they hid behind the rocks. All the time, Barry stood on the open road, as he fingered his Mills bomb. He was about to call off the ambush when a sidecar with some Volunteers arrived — they hadn’t received mobilisation orders on time. Barry acted instantly and shouted to them to gallop up the side boreen.

Just a few minutes later, at 4.05pm, the first lorry came round the bend and began to slow as it neared the uniformed figure. Barry hurled the bomb, blew the whistle and fired the automatic.

The grenade must have landed on the driver’s seat because the lorry lurched forward, then stopped a few yards in front of the Command Post where Barry stood. The Auxiliaries jumped out and there was sharp fighting, even hand-to-hand action. When the men in the first lorry had been dealt with, Barry commanded the three men beside him at the Command Post to move with him towards the second lorry. This lorry had been engaged by No 2 Section, which was in the middle of the ambush area, behind the monument, high up on the rocks.

The second group of Auxiliaries had taken up positions beside the ditch on the road. Some also had taken cover behind their lorry as the fight went on. Barry, with the three men at the Command Post, crouched along the dyke and stole along at the back. When they were about half way between the two lorries they heard the Auxiliaries shout, “We surrender! We surrender!” Some actually threw away their rifles and the firing stopped. The Volunteers accepted the surrender. In No 2 Section some Volunteers, who thought it was over, stood up. But the Auxiliaries again took up their guns; some used their revolvers to open fire. Following this encounter, three Volunteers were fatally wounded.

Realising that the Auxiliaries had made a false surrender, Barry shouted at his men to retaliate.

Barry and the three men with him dropped into a prone position and began a rapid fire. Other Volunteers in No 2 Section did likewise. The Auxiliaries knew they were sandwiched between two groups of men. Once again they shouted, “We surrender”; but at this stage Barry shouted to his men to keep firing and “do not stop until I tell you”. Later he said: “Now for that I take full responsibility… The only blame I have to myself is that I didn’t warn these young lads about the old war trick of a false surrender.” He never forgave himself for this.

It was a tough fight and when all the Auxiliaries appeared dead, Barry then gave the ceasefire order. Two Volunteers in No 2 Section, Michael McCarthy and Jim O’Sullivan, were dead, and Pat Deasy, who had been sick and had pleaded with Barry to take part, was seriously wounded. He died later. Barry sent scouts for a priest and a doctor, and ordered the lorries to be burned. Many of the Column men were in shock. Barry, conscious of this and of the need to jerk them back to reality, ordered the men to get into formation, gave the “attention” command and ordered them to reload. He marched and counter-marched his Column, their faces lit in the winter twilight by the flickering light from the burning vehicles. Barry halted with the Column before the rock, where the bodies of the two dead Volunteers lay, and ordered them to “present arms”.
Lest we forget. TAL

Sorry should be

The Polis are a joke

It doesn’t even matter if that guy Arlene Foster is the ref on Sunday….it’s Aberdeen…total bottle merchants….
I seem to remember Glasgow Polis escorting an illegal March of inbred scum from the LoudHun Tavernier up to Liebrox and they wonder why the public like to post videos of them getting a doing,on Yootubes,rather than helping them!……Can you imagine what Celtic/RCs/Irish would be up against in an “independent ” Scotchland?….FTScottishEstablishment….

Why do the Dundee Polis go out in threes?
The first can read,the second can write and the third keeps an eye on the intellectuals……

Barry’s victory at Kilmichael was a well planned and executed ambush, but his performance in command of the victory at Crossbarry, a battle forced on him by surprise, where he had to improvise quickly against a far larger force, was truly brilliant. He spread out his group with five sections along the main road and two guarding his flanks and rear. Barry told the commanders of each of his seven fourteen man sections to hold at all costs, and he would have help headed to the sound of the guns. This could only work if they were not attacked on all fronts at once, but he was confident they wouldn’t be.

Expecting the force coming from the west, who would be the hated Essex, would arrive first, he set up his men to attack that prong first, while also guarding his flanks. They did arrive first, around 8 AM, and the flying column routed them with a little help from bagpiper Flor Begley, who played throughout this first part of the battle. It was, and will likely remain, the last use of the “war pipes” in a battle in Ireland. The men who fought there felt it inspired them and never forgot it. Tom Kelleher, who commanded one of the sections of the ambush said, “that man’s music was more effective than twenty rifles”. For the rest of his days Begley would be known as “The Piper of Crossbarry.

No sooner had the fighting in the west ended than firing was heard in the east, where troops were attacking coming from Cork on the road from the east and Kinsale on the road to the south. Collecting their haul of weapons from first action, including a Lewis machine gun, Barry moved east quickly to their support as he had promised and beat back both those assaults. Then he rushed the entire column north to reinforce Kelleher’s section in the northeast, routing the last attackers coming from Ballincollig in the north with several volleys from his entire hundred man force. He then made his escape to the northwest, where a force of Auxiliaries had gone to the wrong location and left a route open. Using his interior line position and well selected defensive positions he had beaten back several hundred troops over the course of about two hours by constantly massing his smaller forces against the separate British units. Barry had lost three dead and four wounded. The British army attempted to downplay their losses, but British papers reported it to be anywhere from thirty-five to thirty-nine dead and over forty wounded. Many think it was the Volunteers most impressive victory of war.
Barry was well thought of by Michael Collins, so much that Collins sent for him to come to London to assist in the negotiations.
Barry begged Collins not to sign up to the treaty sadly they weren’t listened too.
Barry joined the republican side but never lost his admiration for Collins.
Tom Barry’s fav song that he loved to sing was Down by the glenside/ Bold fenian men, in his case the words ring true. We may have brave men but we’ll never have better.

Caption:

Police Scotland blame crowd trouble in Athens on Celtic players’ lap of honour.

Charlie Saiz,
Why are you watching the football?
Should you not be watching ‘ Combat dealers ‘?

Charlie Saiz,
I’m playing with a button at the back of your head, it’s making your eyes move left & right.