General Liam Lynch's final movements brought to life in docudrama
Revolutionary Is History Of One Liam Greatest Irish Regarded As Lynch Figures In The General
A docudrama recalling the life and death of one of the greatest figures in Irish revolutionary history is to have its premiere in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, on February 9.
focuses on General Liam Lynch’s final eight weeks of life as he led Anti-Treaty troops against Free State forces in the Civil War.
It particularly focuses on the activities of the IRA commander in the Nire Valley and Knockmealdown mountains in the days leading up to his death in 1923. He was shot by Free State forces who had closed in on his headquarters on the Co Tipperary side of the Knockmealdown.
“The idea started after I made a film in 2019 about an event from the War of Independence. This documentary about Liam Lynch is effectively a follow-on with higher production value,” said producer John Foley.
What started out as “a low budget passion project,” ended up with a cast and crew of more than 70 people after Mr Foley got funding from Waterford City and County Council and then Cork County Council.
Dungarvan-based Mr Foley said the film traces Lynch’s movements from February 1923 as he made his way south from Dublin, crossing the River Suir and through the gap to the Nire Valley and onto the Knockmeadowns, all the time trying to evade capture by an increasingly powerful Free State forces.
From there, Lynch heads to Goirtín Fliuch outside Ballingeary in Mid-Cork. While there, he attends a meeting of local IRA commanders in Coolea and then makes a brief visit to Quills in Gort Luachra outside Kilgarvan, Co Kerry. He then travels to the IRA executive meeting in Bliantas in Co Waterford.
"We received great support from about 25 others who give us access to old houses and land for filming, contributed information and research and helped in various other ways.
"It was very much a community project, with those communities of participants and supporters stretching from Dublin to West Cork, Tipperary, Kerry and Waterford very much mirroring the areas along the journey taken by Liam Lynch in the period covered by the film,” Mr Foley said.
Many of the descendants of the families who helped Lynch are in the docudrama, including Nóra Levis, who lives near Ballingeary.
"Nóra’s interview draws on stories she heard first hand from her relation Bina Cronin, who was in the house in 1923. Nóra also draws on the contents of a letter sent by her father Seán Lehane to Florence O’Donoghue in the 1950s. We get a real sense of the admiration of the people from that part of Cork had for Lynch,” Mr Foley said.
- The docudrama will be screened at the SGC Dungarvan Cinema at 7pm on February 9, followed by a Q&A with Mr Foley