John Joseph Sheehy (16 October 1897 – 12 January 1980) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

political/military activist and sportsperson. He participated in the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

and

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

in the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

(IRA), where he was a senior figure in

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

. He also gained fame as a successful Gaelic footballer representing the Kerry county team.

IRA activities

In 1914 Sheehy joined the republican boy scouts the

Fianna Éireann Na Fianna Éireann (The Fianna of Ireland), known as the Fianna, is an Irish nationalist youth organisation founded by Constance Markievicz in 1909, with later help from Bulmer Hobson. Fianna members were involved in setting up the Irish Volun ...

and later the

Irish Volunteers The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respons ...

. Sheehy commanded the Boherbee company of the IRA, and later of the Tralee. His brother Jimmy was killed in the British Army in the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

in 1916. He sided against the

Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...

in 1922, like most of the IRA in Kerry. In the Civil War, when Free State troops landed in Kerry as part of a seaborne offensive, he was in command of the Anti-Treaty garrison in

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County ...

. After the Army took the town, Sheehy retreated, burning the barracks there. As the conflict became a guerrilla affair, he found himself in charge of three 'columns', or around 75 men in total, in the Ballymacthomas area.Tom Doyle, ''The Civil War in Kerry'' He and Tom McEllistrim were in charge of an attack on Castlemaine in January 1923. Just after the Civil War, when Sheehy was still on the run, he managed to play football for Kerry. Kerry captain Con Brosnan, though a member of the Free State army, would guarantee his safe passage. Sheehy would pay into Munster and All Ireland finals, slip off his street clothes, play, and then at the final whistle, disappear back into the crowd. In 1936 Sheehy was in New York and was able to smuggle a large number of Thompson sub machine guns back to Ireland.

Prison

In February 1941 Sheehy was arrested and interned in the Curragh Internment Camp for two years. Sheehy was arrested again and charged with making "seditious speeches" on the day that IRA hunger striker

Seán McCaughey Seán McCaughey (Irish: Seán Mac Eóchaidh) (1915 – 11 May 1946) was an Irish Republican Army leader in the 1930s and 1940s and hunger striker. Background McCaughey was born in Aughnacloy, County Tyrone in 1915 and in 1921 his family move ...

died (11 May 1946). Sheehy was found guilty and sentenced to four months imprisonment.

Sporting career

He played

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

with his local club John Mitchels and was a member of the senior Kerry county team from 1919 until 1930. He also played hurling with

Tralee Parnells Tralee Parnells are a hurling club from the town of Tralee in County Kerry, Ireland. Original club The original Parnells won 2 Kerry Senior Hurling Championships in 1918 and 1919. All Ireland winning football captain and one of Kerry's great ...

. Sheehy captained Kerry to the

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

title in 1930. Three of his sons – Seán Óg,

Niall Niall is a male given name of Irish origin. The original meaning of the name is unknown, but popular modern sources have suggested that it means "champion" (derived from the Old Irish word ''niadh''),. According to John Ryan, Professor of Early an ...

and Paudie – all won All-Ireland titles with Kerry in the 1960s. He played in the

Railway Cup The GAA Interprovincial Championship ( ga, An Corn Idir-Chúigeach) or Railway Cup (''Corn an Iarnróid'') is the name of two annual Gaelic football and hurling competitions held between the provinces of Ireland. The Connacht, Leinster, Munster ...

Hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

final in 1927 and was captain of the Football team the same year and won other medals in 1931.

Later life

Sheehy remained a staunch supporter of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

, and was critical of the moves to end abstention by the party in the late 1960s. He sided with the Provisionals in the split at the 1970 Ard Fheis and remained active in Provisional Sinn Féin until his death, supporting the IRA's guerrilla campaign. John Joe Sheehy died in Tralee, and was given a republican funeral at his own request. Sheehy's funeral oration was given by

Dáithí Ó Conaill Dáithí Ó Conaill (English: ''David O'Connell'') (May 1938 – 1 January 1991) was an Irish republican, a member of the IRA Army Council of the Provisional IRA, and vice-president of Sinn Féin and Republican Sinn Féin. He was also the firs ...

, vice-president of

.Coleman

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheehy, John Joe 1897 births 1980 deaths All-Ireland-winning captains (football) Dual players John Mitchels (Kerry) Gaelic footballers Tralee Parnells hurlers Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers Munster inter-provincial Gaelic footballers Munster inter-provincial hurlers Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members People from Tralee People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side) John Joe