Railway Worker Shot Dead by Black and Tans

Lower Glanmire Road railway station. The tunnel where Charles Daly was shot runs under the main road on the left of picture.

On the night of March 1, 1921 the Great Southern and Western Railway Station on the Lower Glanmire Road was raided by British forces. Charlie Daly of 14 Lough View, on the western side of Cork city (who was employed in the goods depart­ment of the station) was bundled into the rail tunnel where he was shot dead by Black and Tans. His body was later found lying on the tracks by railway personnel.

Daly, who came from a strong nationalist family, was fully aware of the danger his work dur­ing curfew hours represented.  A fortnight prevously his brother, who had also been a member of G Company of the IRA, had died and been accorded a military funeral. The authorities took particu­lar notice of Charlie as chief mourner behind the coffin. As a result he became a marked man and this led to his brutal murder.

Daly was a member of the College Rovers Hurling Club and was very much involved in Irish dancing and language classes at the Fr O'Leary T A Hall close to his home. He was buried in the Republican plot at St. Finbarr’s cemetery.