Here dead we lie
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung.
Life, to be sure,
Is nothing to lose,
But young men think it is,
And we are young.
Here, Patricia Hayward recounts key incidents from the lives of two young men from Clooney, Co. Clare, Cornelius McMahon and Patrick Hennessy, who were executed in Limerick Gaol on the 20th January 1923 for anti-Treaty activities in the Irish Civil War. Theirs is a story which - together with another researcher, Ellen Murphy- Patricia spent many years researching and gathering family stories from people all over the world.
This brief commemorative publication comprises a mix of factual information based on documentary evidence uncovered in archival resources, both in Clare and in Dublin, alongside powerful personal testimonies and anecdotes., from all of which, Patricia invites you to draw your own personal conclusions.