Lios Póil, Kerry, and the country salutes Ághas

FOLLOWING on from the centenary of the Easter Rising, 2017 was, in many ways, the year of Lios Póil’s Tomás Ághas.

It’s now over a century since Ághas led the Fingal Volunteers in the 1916 Rising, and this year marked the centenary of his death; Ághas, who was on hunger strike, died in the Mater Hospital in September 2017, near where he was serving a sentence in Mountjoy Prison in the aftermath of his famous speech in Ballinalee, Longford.

Ághas, who grew up in the west Kerry townland of Cinn Aird from his birth in 1885, had also been a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and the Gaelic League, and while this momentous anniversary was celebrated with no little fanfare around Kerry and indeed nationally in places such as Dingle, Tralee, north Kerry, and Glasnevin, the commemorations that took place in his home parish may be remembered as the most spectacular and memorable of all.

The Coiste Cuimhneachán Thomáis Ághas, founded in 1984, is the local group tasked with preserving the memory of Ághas in the locality, and these centenary celebrations had been marked out for many years beforehand for particular attention.

But while the pressure to deliver had undoubtedly been intense, it hardly showed during Féile Lios Póil and, later, the centenary weekend itself.

In late September, the Coiste Cuimhneachán’s Risteard Mac Eoin acted as Emcee on a day that saw ferocious wind and rain batter a white marquee sheltering a large attendance made up of locals, interested visitors, dignitaries, entertainers, and descendants of Ághas himself.

After an engaging speech by Ághas grand-nephew Colm Quinn – in which he thanked the Coiste Cuimhneachán for its trojan organisational work – the patriot’s grand-niece Mairead Ashe-Moriarty was at hand to deliver a moving rendition of Ághas’ poem, “Let me Carry your Cross for Ireland, Lord” just a few paces from the house her grand-uncle once called home.

To say the weekend was a colourful affair would be to present the height of understatement. Another relative of Ághas’ to speak on the day was retired Irish Defence Forces Major General David Ashe, who remarked on how fitting it was that an armoured car from Michael Collins’ convoy on the day the Cork man was ambushed and killed was in Lios Póil for the celebrations.

“Collins was chosen to give the oration at the graveside when Thomas Ashe was being buried,” Mr Ashe said. “It’s appropriate then that we symbolise Collins today, as he was probably his best friend.”

Between the many helpings of entertainment from this most musical part of the world, there was a colour party and a performance of Amhrán na bhFiann, but perhaps most memorable of all was the unveiling of a brand new bust at the memorial by Ághas’ former home, ensuring Ághas’s memory will remain tangible far beyond the centenary of his passing.