In the final hours of 1956, the Pearse column of the IRA attacked the British barracks at Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh. The British saw them, and after a fierce gun battle, two Volunteers were wounded. They were transported 7 miles southeast to a stone barn at the Attawark crossroads, halfway between Brookeborough and the border town of Roslea. Both men died that night from their wounds - Sean Sabhat (South) of Limerick and Fergal O'Hanlon of Monaghan.

Elevated to martyrdom, both men have served as heroes of republican bravery. The internationally-known song Patriot Game (Dominic Behan, 1961) celebrates Fergal O'Hanlon.

In 1985, British troops vandalized and razed the stone barn where Sabhat and O'Hanlon died. On New Year's Eve 1996, the 40th anniversary of the Brookeborough attack, a monument built from the stones from that barn was dedicated to the memory of Sean Sabhat and Fergal O'Hanlon.

Thanks to Paddy Drum for the corrections.

SEAN SOUTH

Sad are the homes 'round Garryowen since lost their giant pride. And the banshee cry links every vale around the Shannon side. That city of the ancient walls the broken treaty stone. Undying fame surrounds your name - Sean South of Garryowen.

It was on a dreary New Year's Eve, as shades of night came down

A lorry load of Volunteers approached a border town

There were men from Dublin and from Cork, Fermanagh and Tyrone

And the leader was a Limerick man, Sean South from Garryowen

And as they moved along the street up to the barracks door

They scorned the dangers they would meet, their fate that lay in store

They were fighting for old Ireland's cause, to claim their very own

But the foremost of that gallant band was Sean South from Garryowen

But the sergeant spied their daring plan, he spied them through the door

The rifles and the sten guns a hail of death did pour

And when that awful night was o'er, two men lay cold as stone

There was one from near the border, and one from Garryowen

No more he'll hear the seagulls cry o'er the murmuring Shannon tide

For he fell beneath a northern sky, O'Hanlon by Sean's side

They have gone to join that gallant band, of Plunkett, Pearce, and Tone

Another martyr for old Ireland, Sean South from Garryowen

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