Michael Donoghue

An Dáréag Aspal

Deirdre Carty

My name is Deirdre Carty. I’m Mike Donoghue’s granddaughter. He was one of the Volunteers in the kilconieron Volunteer Force. He was born in 1897. He was one of ten children. He was the second eldest. His dad died at forty two, so there was great responsibility on him because they had a farm and then he went out to work and get an apprenticeship in carpentry and in his late teens he joined the Kilconieron Volunteer Army.

He was involved in the Agricultural College, Liam Mellows now. He was involved in Moyode and Limepark. He was commanded by Mellows to watch out in the Liam Mellows College and then he went back to his own kilconieron group again and he was involved in Bookeen and Moyvilla and he was also involved with the burning of Moyode House.

He was one of the Twelve Apostles and they went to prison in Wormwood Scrubs first and then they went to Lewis in Brighton. Now my Granddad gave stories that he was treated very well in prison and he never got into any trouble or anything. They were let go a year later and he came back to Ireland again and he took up carpentry and worked in County Wicklow. He was there for a good number of years and he was a very dedicated carpenter. He was a stickler for good workmanship and that.

So when he returned to Rathgorgon he built his own residence in one of the fields in his family farm. He met my grandmother in a dance down in Abbeyknockmoy. She was home from America on holidays. They were smitten and got on really well. She was engaged to a gentleman in America, so she broke off the engagement and when her work commitments were finished she came back to Ireland and they married in 1939. They went on to have three children but unfortunately, my granddad in his early fifties, had a heart attack and he married late in life so his children were very young and there was a great strain in the family, really. So my grandmother had to take in boarders and she also had to work out in the farm, ’cause granddad really wasn’t allowed to any strenuous work at all. He was always aware that he might die, just kind of, his heart attack had damaged his heart very badly but thank God he had a good life with them and he lived to be seventy one years of age. When he was younger he was a bit of a trickster really. He went out on a date but he took his brother’s date which was a bit mischievous and brought his mother up to a play in Dublin. It was called “The Can Can Girls” and his mom came in and it mustn’t been a very pleasant experience ’cause she got up and walked out of the place and said it wasn’t very pleasurable, she was kind of shocked but I suppose he was a younger, cooler kind of generation. They always say he was extremely happy and for every day he got up, he was joyous because he didn’t know it ‘id be his last.


Is mise Deirdre Carty agus ba é Mike Donoghue mo sheanathair. Bhí seisean ar dhuine de na hÓglaigh i bhFórsa Chill Chon Iarainn. Sa bhliain 1897 a rugadh é agus bhí deichniúr clainne sa teach. Ba eisean an dara duine. Cailleadh a athair nuair nach raibh sé ach dhá bhliain agus dhá fhichead agus bhí cúram mór airsean dá bharr sin. Bhí feirm acu agus chuaigh sé amach ag obair freisin go ndearna printíseacht le siúinéireacht. Blianta beaga sula mbeadh sé fiche bliain d’aois, chuaigh sé isteach le hArm Óglach Chill Chon Iarainn.

Bhí sé i láthair ag an gColáiste Talmhaíochta, Coláiste Liam Uí Mhaoilíosa anois. Bhí sé i Maigh Fhód agus i mBaile na Creige chomh maith. Thug Liam Ó Maoilíosa ordú dó dul ar faire i gColáiste Liam Uí Mhaoilíosa agus chuaigh sé ar ais ina dhiaidh sin lena dhream féin as Cill Chon Iarainn agus bhí baint aige leis na heachtraí sa Bhuaicín agus i Maigh Bhile chomh maith le loisceadh an tí mhóir i Maigh Fhód.

Bhí sé ar dhuine den Dáréag Aspal agus bhí siad i bpríosún i Wormwood Scrubs i dtosach agus ansin i Lewis i mBrighton. Anois, de réir thuairiscí mo Sheanathar, caitheadh go maith leis i bpríosún agus ní raibh sé i dtrioblóid riamh ann ná tada mar sin. Scaoileadh amach iad an bhliain dár gcionn agus tháinig sé ar ais go hÉirinn. Chuaigh se i mbun siúinéireachta agus d’oibrigh sé i gContae Chill Mhantáin. Bhí sé tamall maith blianta ansin agus bhí sé an-díograiseach faoina chuid siúinéireachta. Bhí sé an-phointeáilte faoi dhea-cheardaíocht agus mar sin de.

Nuair a tháinig sé ar ais go Ráth Ghoirrgín, rinne sé teach dó féin i gceann de na garranta ar fheirm na muintire. Casadh mo sheanmháthair air ag damhsa i Mainistir Chnoc Muaidhe. Bhí sise tagtha abhaile as Meiriceá ar laethanta saoire. Bhí siad an-tógtha lena chéile agus an-mhór lena chéile. Bhí lámh agus focal idir ise agus fear eile i Meiriceá agus bhris sí leisean agus tháinig ar ais go hÉirinn nuair a bhí a cuid cúraimí oibre curtha di aici i Meiriceá. Phós siad sa bhliain 1939. Bhí triúr clainne orthu ach bhuail taom croí mo sheanathair blianta beaga tar éis an leathchéid agus ó phós sé mall ina shaol, bhí an chlann an-óg agus bhí cúrsaí géar go maith ar an teaghlach dáiríre. Bhí ar mo sheanmháthair lóistéirí a thógáil isteach agus oibriú ar an bhfeirm chomh maith mar gheall nach raibh ceadaithe do mo sheanathair aon obair chrua a dhéanamh beag ná mór. Tuigeadh dó i gcónaí go bhféadfaí é a chailleadh, ar bhealach, go ndearna an taom croí an-dochar dá chroí ach, buíochas le Dia, bhí saol maith aige leo agus mhair sé go raibh sé aon bhliain déag agus trí fichid. Nuair a bhí sé níos óige, bhí beagán diabhlaíochta ann. Chuaigh sé amach mar a bheadh sé ag dul amach le cailín ach ba í cailín a dhearthár a thug sé amach, mínósach go maith, agus thug sé a mháthair suas go Baile Átha Cliath ag dráma a raibh “The Can Can Girls” mar ainm air. Tháinig a mháthair isteach agus ní dócha gur thaitin an dráma léi mar d’éirigh sí agus shiúil sí amach as an áit agus dúirt sí nach raibh aon taitneamh le baint as. Bhain sé cineál leagan aisti is dócha ach bhain seisean le glún níos óige, níos réchúisí. Deirtear go raibh sé thar a bheith sona agus go raibh ríméad air gach lá dár éirigh sé ó tharla nárbh eol dó arbh é an lá deiridh aige é.

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