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Eoin
O¹Duffy ... his life and legacy
Probably
one of the most controversial Irishmen of all time was born
at Cargaghdoo, near Lough Egish, in the parish of Aughnamullen
East, on 30th October 1892. He was Eoin O¹Duffy, later better
known as general Eoin O¹Duffy, and he would become one of
the most prominent figures in the history of the GAA, not
just in Co. Monaghan, but throughout Ulster, and also the
Leading Light¹ in the Struggle for Independence¹ of the
1919-21 period in his native Co. Monaghan. By Seamus McCluskey.
Completing his primary, secondary and third level education,
O’Duffy became an engineer and worked as a surveyor
for Monaghan County Council in the Clones area. Following
the formation of the Volunteers and the 1916 Rising, he
became one of the movement’s most active members, and
his organisational abilities were soon to become very evident
during the ensuing War of Independence. By September 1918
he was already a Brigade Officer in the IRA and became the
foremost organiser in the county. Jailed in 1918, he was
released in 1919, and soon threw himself completely and
wholeheartedly into the work of gaining independence for
his country.
He had already been very active in GAA circles and he would
now use that organisation as a recruiting ground for his
Volunteers.
Starting with his GAA activities, Eoin O’Duffy became
secretary of the Monaghan Co. Board in 1912, when he was
a mere youth of twenty, and his organisational abilities
here led to his then being elected Secretary of the Ulster
GAA Council the following year. He would remain as Ulster
Secretary right up until 1923, and would then become Treasurer
from 1925 until 1934.
During all this period his GAA and Volunteer activities
went hand-in-hand.
One of his most unusual exploits in 1918 was on the occasion
of ‘Gaelic Sunday’, 4th August of that year. The
1918 Ulster Final on 7th July had had to be cancelled when
British soldiers occupied the Cootehill venue and banned
the playing of Gaelic Games. To defy the ‘ban’,
all nine counties organised challenge matches for Sunday
4th August, and the GAA Central Council followed suit. No
permits were applied for anywhere. It would be called ‘Gaelic
Sunday’ and over 100,000 took part, leaving the authorities
totally helpless.
The ‘proclaimed’ game at Cootehill on 7th July
had a unique sequel. Ulster secretary O’Duffy, along
with Dan Hogan of Clones, who was to have refereed the Final,
and about thirty others, all cycled home from Cootehill
towards Newbliss, but were followed by a party of RIC men
on their heavy bicycles. O’Duffy knew they were being
followed and led the unfortunate RIC men on a fifteen miles
wild-goose chase over the by-roads around Newbliss. The
sweltering heat and the heavy official uniforms, made matters
extremely unpleasant for the pursuers, who must have lost
a lot of sweat trying to push their cumbersome machines
in such conditions.
The first major event of the War of Independence in the
county, in which O’Duffy was involved, was the ‘Siege
of Ballytrain’ RIC barracks on 13th February 1920.
O’Duffy himself led the attack, in which thirty Volunteers
formed the assault party, drawn from companies in Monaghan,
Donagh, Clones, Wattlebridge and Corcaghan. The other companies
of the county were involved in blocking roads and dismantling
telephone wires. The RIC garrison eventually surrendered
and O’Duffy’s pattern of attack was soon imitated
in later attacks on several other RIC barracks throughout
the country.
On the following 17th March (1920) the Ulster GAA Convention
was held in Conlon’s Hotel in Clones and O’Duffy,
now very much a ‘wanted man’ by the British Authorities,
had to enter the meeting in disguise, as RIC spies were
waiting outside to arrest him. However, O’Duffy had
already departed when the police eventually raided the hotel.
The ‘Adjourned Convention’ was held in Armagh
on 17th April 1920 and O’Duffy, now even more wanted
by the police, again attended, but this time without a disguise.
Quickly arrested, it became obvious that O’Duffy actually
wanted to be arrested on this occasion as it was his intention
to organise a hunger-strike among the Monaghan Prisoners
then being held in Crumlin Road jail in Belfast. This he
duly did, and very successfully too, and all the Monaghan
prisoners were later released.
O’Duffy realised the importance of getting arms for
his Volunteers and, consequently, he organised a major raid
on several Unionist houses throughout North Monaghan to
obtain them. Many guns were captured in these raids but
four Volunteers lost their lives that same night, while
several others were wounded when stiff resistance was offered.
The ‘Night of the Raids’, as it became known,
took place on 31st August 1920 and was the brainchild of
O’Duffy.
Because of these activities and the continuing ’Troubles’,
as they were called, all GAA competitions in Ulster fell
very much into arrears. The 1921 Ulster Final was not played
until October 1923, as several of the Monaghan players had
been arrested by ‘B Specials’ at Dromore, Co.
Tyrone, when on their way to play Derry, in Derry, for the
original fixture. All of them were ‘O’Duffy Men’,
and O’Duffy was instrumental in obtaining the later
release of all ten. The 1922 Final was not played until
April 1923, and the 1923 Final on 2nd September. The 1923
Ulster Convention had been held in Clones on 17th March,
when O’Duffy was replaced as secretary.
One of the great memories of that same year, however, was
the Official Opening of Breifne Park in Cavan on 22nd July,
the name having been suggested by Eoin O’Duffy.
Following the cessation of hostilities and the Treaty of
1921, O’Duffy rose in the ranks of the Irish Free State
army, becoming chief-of-staff in 1922. Fortunately, there
was very little activity in Co. Monaghan during the unfortunate
Civil War that then ensued and lasted for ten months in
1922-23. Now O’Duffy could concentrate more on his
GAA activities but, unfortunately, he was unavoidably absent
from the 1929 Ulster Convention held in March 1929.
With the setting up of the new Irish Free State and the
establishment of the Garda Siochana in 1922, O’Duffy
was put in charge with the rank of Commissioner. Here he
again showed remarkable ability in the establishment of
our first national police force, and was Chief Marshall
at the Catholic Emancipation Centenary celebrations in 1929
and again at the Eucharist Congress of 1932. However, he
then incurred the disfavour of the new Taoiseach, Eamon
DeValera, and was dismissed from his post on 22nd February
1933.
The Army Comrades Association was founded in 1933 and was
basically a welfare organisation for former members of the
Irish Free Stage army.
Political meetings of Cumann na nGaedheal, the pro-Treaty
party, were frequently disrupted by IRA and the Association
adopted the role of protecting these meetings from interference.
Members wore a blue shirt and black beret, and became known
as ‘The Blueshirts’. Eoin O’Duffy joined
the Blueshirts in 1933 and was soon promoted to the post
of Leader of the movement, which then became known as the
‘National Guard’. A proposed ‘March on Dublin’,
however, was banned by the Government of the day, and the
name was duly changed again, this time to ‘Young Ireland
Association’. Rallies were held throughout Ireland,
one of the largest taking place in Monaghan town on 20th
August 1933.
O’Duffy’s recruiting abilities continued and the
ranks of the Blueshirts duly swelled. He held a parade of
over two hundred in Ballybay in November 1933 and another
two hundred in Newbliss three months later. His greatest
show-of-strength, however, was in Monaghan on 18th February
1934. O’Duffy had come to Monaghan as President of
Fine Gael on 19th November 1933, and the aforementioned
rallies and parades then followed. O’Duffy’s unquestionable
popularity in the county since his Sinn Fein days, and the
fact that he was a native of the county, probably accounted
for the remarkable rise of the Blueshirts throughout the
county.
Despite his absence from Ulster Convention in February 1934,
O’Duffy was still the central figure. He had been the
most tireless worker for the GAA in Ulster for the previous
twenty-two years, first as secretary, and later as Ulster
Delegate on the Central Council, where he proved himself
a fearless fighter for the Ulster cause, particularly since
the National Games were so vehemently opposed by a majority
in the northern province. However, when he became embroiled
in party politics, and with his involvement as leader of
the Blueshirts, this created a position where many of his
former associates now became his enemies. GAA rules also
make it quite clear that involvement in controversial politics
would preclude him from membership. By 1933 it was generally
accepted that O’Duffy had resigned, but by the time
of the 1934 Convention, this resignation had still not yet
been officially received. No wonder there was a record attendance,
and there was a tense atmosphere throughout the entire proceedings.
A letter from O’Duffy proved somewhat ambiguous and
did not clearly indicate that he was withdrawing from the
post of Treasurer, so his name had to be allowed to go forward.
Even Co. Monaghan had nominated an opponent to O’Duffy
in the person of Michael Markey, while Gerry Arthurs of
Armagh also allowed his name to go forward. Arthurs proved
a decisive victor in the ensuing vote at this unique Convention,
which heralded the end of O’Duffy’s official association
with the GAA, and it was held in Dungannon on 28th February
1934.
In 1936 Eoin O’Duffy recruited and formed an ‘Irish
Brigade’ to go to the assistance of General Franco
in the Spanish Civil War. 700 strong, they contributed to
the success of the Catholic leader of Spain and were even
blessed by Irish bishops prior to their departure for what
was a most unusual expedition, and which has been vividly
described by O’Duffy’s himself in his ‘Crusade
in Spain’.
Eoin O’Duffy was later elected President of the NACA,
the body controlling Irish athletics, and held this post
until his death on 30th November 1944. On the 2nd December
1944, Eoin O’Duffy was given a full military funeral
and was then laid to rest in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin,
alongside his friend and ally, Michael Collins.
Taken from Monaghan's Match
December 2004
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