School: Leamh-choill
- Location:
- Drumsillagh, Co. Roscommon
- Teacher: Cáit Ní Ghadhra
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0232, Page 049
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- (continued from previous page)Byrne was a great boxer as well. A fight started between them and very soon it appeared that Conway had met his match. All the people stopped fighting to watch. The sun had come out and the day was very hot. The men fought for a half an hour and during this time both men fell very often. At the end of the half hour Conway began to weaken. Byrne seeing his chance struck him a terrific blow and knocked him out, he then fell himself. Both men recovered in a short time. Neither of them was ever seen at a fight again after that.
The parish priest of that time whose name was Father O'Gara tried to promote friendly feelings between the two half-parishes. The result was that they often met on friendly terms to play a game of football. Unfortunately those games frequently ended up in fights.
Some of the fighting men of this district used to go as far as Keadue to join in the faction fights there. There was no police force then and it is said that some men who were killed in these fights were buried quietly at night. Most disputes were settled at fairs, or it might be more correct to say, kept alive at fairs.
The faction fights ended when the R.I.C. force became strong and when the 'great fighters' got from one to three months in jail.
