Ambush on RIC Patrol at Ballinspittal

A three man RIC party based at Innishannon, was ambushed while on patrol at Ballinspittal, a village mid-way between Kinsale and Bandon, by members of the Third West Cork Brigade under the leadership of battalion adjutant Jim O'Mahony. Sergeant Cornelius Crean and Constable Patrick McGoldrick were killed outright, while the other RIC man escaped uninjured.

Forty-eight year old Sergeant Crean, from Annascaul, Co. Kerry, had twenty eight years police service, having been a farmer before joining the RIC. He was a brother of the famous explorer Tom Crean, who had accompanied Ernest Shackleton on his voyage to the South Pole in 1909. Constable McGoldrick, aged 59, was originally from Co. Cavan. A farmer before joining the RIC, he had thirty eight years police service at the time of his death.