Events To Mark 100th Anniversary Of Death Of Tralee Man In Civil War

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The cross at Ballyseedy commemorating the death of Michael Ryle.

A CENTENARY celebration of the life of a Tralee man killed in action during the Irish Civil War will take place next week.

Michael Ryle was in the 1st Battalion, Kerry No 1 Brigade of the Irish Republican Army. On Monday, Phil Dunne (nee Ryle), niece, and Billy Ryle, nephew, are holding a centenary commemoration of the life of their uncle who died in action at Ballycarty, Ballyseedy, Tralee on August 5, 1922.

There will be a laurel wreath laying at Ballycarthy, Ballyseedy at 7.30pm on Monday, August 1, the National Flag, the Kerry Flag and the Rock Street Hurling & Football Club Flag (now Austin Stacks) will be displayed.

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The highlight of the commemoration will be a lecture on Volunteer Michael Ryle and the troubled times in which he lived and died at 7.30pm on Tuesday, August 2 at Kerry County Library, Tralee Branch by Dr Tim Horgan, Historian & Author.

On Wednesday, at 8.00am an Anniversary Mass will be held at Holy Cross Dominican Church, Tralee.

Volunteer Michael Ryle was a young Fianna Éireann activist from Tralee. Michael joined Na Fianna, the youth wing of the Irish Republican Army, at 14 years of age.

He was a native of Pembroke St., Tralee where his parents William and Ellen (nee Nolan) ran a public house and grocery shop.

He went on to become a Volunteer in the 1st Battalion, Kerry No 1 Brigade of the anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army.

He participated in the fight against the Free State Army, commanded by Brigadier Paddy O’Daly, which landed in Fenit on August 2, 1922 on board the Lady Wicklow.

Ryle was acting as a scout before a planned ambush on Free State Forces, who were advancing towards Castleisland on August 5  when he was spotted and shot dead.

A white wooden cross is positioned in his memory at Ballycarty, in the Ballyseedy area, by the Tralee-Killarney Road, south side, at the boundary wall of the Earl of Desmond Hotel.

Michael Ryle is also named on the Roll of Honour on the Ballyseedy Memorial Monument and on the Headstone at the Republican grave at Rath Cemetery, Tralee.

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