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SEAN SOUTH OF GARRYOWEN

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

'Twas on a dreary New Year's Eve
As the 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
But 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 danger they might meet
Their fate that lay in store
They were fighting for old Ireland's cause
To claim their very own
And the foremost of that gallant band
Was South of Garryowen

But the sergeant spoiled their daring plan
He spied them through the door
The Sten guns and the rifles
A hail of death did pour
And when that awful night was passed
Two men lay cold as stone
There was one from near the border
And one from Garryowen

No more he will hear the seagull's cry
O'er the murmuring Shannon tide
For he fell beneath a northern sky
Brave Hanlon by his side
They have gone to join that gallant band
Of Plunkett, Pearse, and Tone
A martyr for old Ireland
Sean South from Garryowen


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