104th commemoration for historic Longford Ambush this Sunday

This Sunday will see the 104th Commemoration of the Clonfin Ambush. The historic event took place in 1921 saw the successful ambush of two British Auxiliary lorries by the Irish Republican Army. Clonfin is located between the town lands of Ballinalee and Granard.

Seán Kilbride, a member of the Clonfin Commemoration Committee spoke to the Longford Leader regarding the upcoming event.

“We have a speaker and we’ll be raising the flag at the end of the week.

“The mass for the 21 deceased members that took part in Clonfin will be taking place at 11:30 in St Mary’s Church, Granard.

“We have a good turnout each year, we kind of scaled it down last year a little bit, but we’re back full steam ahead,” he remarked.

However, Seán did want to point out that the Clonfin Commemoration Committee is in desperate need of new members.

“We need young people to get involved.”

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The Committee will see two young people taking part in the commemoration this year, one being a great-grandson of one of the men who participated in 1921.

“But we need a lot more young people because a lot of us are getting old and we need to keep this going.”

If young people are interested in joining the committee they can contact any of the members.

The Committee itself is a historic group in County Longford with members dating their lineage directly to Seán Mac Eoin.

Sean Mac Eoin was a notable Irish Republican and the leader of the Clonfin Ambush.

He later became the Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army and Government Minister.

He and the 20 others that served that day will be honoured this coming Sunday.