In April 1918, the political situation became especially serious. The House of Commons voted to extend conscription to Ireland. Nationalist Ireland, Republican or not, was opposed. Most of the Catholic clergy were opposed. In Donegal, May Caffrey watched the local Hibernian priest share a platform with members of the Irish Parliamentary Party and Sinn FCin, united in opposition to conscription. In Longford Town, Sinn Ftiners and Irish Parliamentary Party members shared the platform in a public protest. Energized by the crisis, Matt Brady and his comrades “organised resistance to conscription" in their area. In Ballinalee, Sedn Mac Eoin, who had been appointed commander of the local unit of the Irish Volunteers by Mick Collins, was able to recruit a hundred people in one day. Mac Eoin later became a central figure in Matt Brady’s life as a guerrilla leader transformed into a leading politician.
World War I ended in November 1918, and the British government called a national election in December. Sinn Féin seized the opportunity and in a stunning victory won seventy three of the Irish seats at Westminster. The Irish Party, representing constitutional Irish nationalists, took six seats, and the Unionist Party, representing Protestant and Northeast Ireland, took twenty-six seats. In Longford, Sinn FCin polled extremely well and Joe McGuinness was easily re-elected. Among the others elected was Countess Markievicz, in Dublin. She was the first woman to be elected in a British parliamentary election.
In January 1919, the elected Sinn Féin representatives put their abstentionist principles into action. Instead of going to London as Irish representatives to a British government, they formed a revolutionary government in Dublin, called Ddil Éireann (Parliament of Ireland). Éamon de Valera, president of Sinn Féin and the Irish Volunteers could not attend; he was imprisoned in England. In his lace, Cathal Brugha, a 1916 veteran noted for his devotion to the Republican cause-he had suffered many bullet wounds-was elected president of Ddil Éireann. Members of the DG1 viewed themselves as the Parliament of the Irish Republic, “proclaimed in Dublin on Easter Monday, 1916, by the Irish Republican Army acting on behalf of the Irish people.” Ireland was sliding into a revolutionary situation. Sinn FCin courts and arbitration boards were established and their decisions were accepted by the people. On the day Dáil Eireann was formed, Irish Republican Army volunteers in Tipperary killed two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary and seized a cartload of explosives.
Under the authority of Dáil Éireann, the Irish Volunteers formally became the Irish Republican Army. The IRA in North Longford reorganized under the command of the Longford Brigade. Sein Mac Eoin became Ballinalee battalion commander. John Murphy was his vice-commandant and SeQn Duffy his adjutant. Battalion companies were located at Edgeworthstown (Mostrim), Killoe, Mullinalaughta, Drumlish, Ballinamuck, Colmcille, Granard, Dromard, and Ballinalee; Matt Brady was a lieutenant with the Colmcille Company. Similar reorganizations occurred across the country, and the IRA began to flex its muscles. Se6n Mac Eoin led a raid into County Cavan that recovered shotguns impounded by the RIC. In Limerick, the IRA tried to free a hunger-striking Republican prisoner from the hospital. The prisoner, a police officer, and a prison guard were shot dead and another guard was wounded. The authorities proclaimed Limerick a military area, and tanks and armored cars paraded the streets. By the end of April, Counties Limerick, Roscommon, and Tipperary were under British military control.
On Sunday, April 27, 1919, one week after Easter, there was an aeraiocht in Aughnacliffe, a sort of outdoor contest and sports festival with bands and dancing. Such events build community spirit and allow people to enjoy the day. Several Sinn FCin members spoke there, including Joe McGuinness. In the evening, there was a concert. Given the political climate, extra police were brought into the area. Unknown to them, Se6n Mac Eoin was using the event for an IRA Brigade Council meeting.
As the concert was starting, Matt Brady and Willie McNally, who were both in the IRA, went for an evening walk with Phil Brady, a Sinn FCin candidate in the upcoming local election. At about 9 PM, they left Phil Brady “on his way home" and were returning to the concert when they saw two RIC constables, Fleming and Clarke, cresting a hill on bicycles. The off-duty constables were returning to their barracks at Drumlish. Brady and McNally decided to seize their weapons. Each jumped a constable; the men starting wrestling, but McNally had trouble with his man. A shot rang out and McNally, hit in the head, collapsed. The RIC men then turned on Matt Brady, shooting him five times. Frightened and angry, they smashed the butts of their rifles into Brady’s and McNally’s faces. Phil Brady heard the shots and turned back to investigate, passing Fleming and Clarke running with their bicycles in the other direction. He found Matt Brady riddled with bullets. He had been hit at least twice in the chest and his left thigh was a mess. Bullets had gone through both hands. McNally was bleeding from a nasty but not dangerous wound over his left eye. Phil Brady ran to get help, shouting that there had been a murder. As more people arrived, they discovered that both men were still alive.
Seán Mac Eoin arrived quickly and took charge. He sent Seán F. Lynch, a Sinn FCiner involved in the court system, in search of a doctor and oversaw the removal of Brady from the edge of the road to the kitchen of a local house. Two local physicians arrived and began treating the wounded men, and the RIC returned. A district inspector announced that “under the authority of the Crown" he was going to arrest the two men. Mac Eoin responded, “under the authority of the Irish Republic,” that they would not be arrested. He revealed that he was armed and the RIC withdrew. The incident was indicative of the growing conflict in Ireland.
The next day, as IRA volunteers watched over him, Matt Brady was moved by British military ambulance to the Longford Infirmary, where he recovered slowly, under the watchful eyes of both the IRA and the RIC. In October, Mac Eoin was alerted by Crown Solicitor T. W. Delaney that a warrant was to be issued for Brady’s arrest. The IRA got there first and moved him to the Richmond Hospital in Dublin, under the care of friendly physicians. Mac Eoin was probably also the source of a Long-ford Leader article that gave Matt Brady a cover story that explained his injuries:
On Thursday forenoon as Mr. Matthew Brady, a well-known Longford horseman, was riding a thoroughbred into town the horse slipped opposite the pump in the Market Square and threw him violently to the ground. Blood gushed from his mouth and nose and he was rendered insensible. A large crowd quickly collected and the priest and doctor were sent for. Rev. Father Newman, Adm., on arrival considered the case so bad that he anointed the injured man on the spot. Subsequently a motor car was procured and the priest and Mr. E H. Fitzgerald, U.D.C., took him to the Co. Infirmary, where he lies in a very precarious state.
From the spring of 1919 the IRA grew quickly and its capabilities expanded rapidly. In Dublin, it was led by Mick Collins, who was ruthless. On Sunday morning, November 21st, 1920, IRA men under his direction broke into homes and hotel rooms and executed fourteen suspected British spies. Some were shot in front of their wives. That afternoon, also in Dublin, British forces took their revenge by firing indiscriminately into a crowd at a football match in Croke Park, killing twelve and wounding sixty. In the countryside, the IRA was especially active in Cork, Tipperary, Clare, Kerry, Limerick, Roscommon, and Longford. Noteworthy IRA leaders were Tom Barry in Cork and Sein Mac Eoin in Longford. Barry directed the IRA in battles at Kilmichael and Crossbarry. His policy was to burn out two pro-British homes for every proRepublican home burned out. Sein Mac Eoin directed the IRA in what became known as the Battle of Ballinalee. In October 1920, the IRA executed an RIC inspector in Kiernan’s Hotel in Granard. In response, British auxiliary troops, in spite of fire from Mac Eoin’s men, torched buildings in the town. A few days later, the auxiliaries set out on a reprisal raid on Ballinalee. Alerted to what was coming, Mac Eoin arranged an ambush, killing several auxiliaries.
Mac Eoin’s exploits became the stuff of legend. In January 1921, he was staying with sympathizers when the home was raided. He escaped, but an RIC district inspector was killed. Mac Eoin then led another guerrilla ambush at Clonfin, during which several British forces were killed. In March 1921, after visiting IRA general headquarters in Dublin, where he met with Collins and Cathal Brugha, Mac Eoin was arrested on the train at Mullingar. He tried to escape and was wounded for his