National Army Soldier (Sergeant) Denis Minogue

National Army Soldier (Sergeant) Denis Minogue (aged about 25) of Derrymore near Scariff, Co Clare (Killeen near Ballineen)

Date of incident: 8 Jan. 1923

Sources: CE, 10, 12 Jan. 1923; II, 10 Jan. 1923; FJ, 11, 12 Jan. 1923; SS, 13 Jan. 1923; MSPC/3D149 (Military Archives); Keane (2017), 347, 421. 

Note: A sharp engagement occurred on the evening of 8 January 1923 between National Army troops and Irregulars ‘at a place [Killeen] a few miles north of Ballineen’. Though the IRA men were reportedly more numerous, ‘the National troops by skilful manoeuvring [sic] beat them out of their very strong positions’. The Irregulars went into retreat, pursued across the country by Free State troops until darkness fell. In this encounter Sergeant Denis Minogue ‘was shot dead and a lieutenant wounded’. The Irregulars ‘were seen taking away at least four bodies with them’. See CE, 10 Jan. 1922.

Denis Minogue was in 1911 one of the five living children (seven born) of the farmer Anthony Minogue and his wife Anne. The five children (all sons) co-resided in that year with their parents and their mother’s sister Nora Griffin in the townland of Fossa More near Scariff in County Clare. The five sons ranged in age from 6 to 19. Denis Minogue was the fourth son (then aged 14). 

Sergeant Denis Minoge had been actice during the War of Independence as an officer of E Company of the Fourth Battalion of the East Clare Brigade. In civilian life he had been a casual labourer. He had enlisted in the National Army on 21 February 1922. His mother Annie Minoge was awarded a gratuity of £50. She had previously received a dependant’s allowance from National Army funds. Her son Michael Minoge’s claim for an allowance or graruity was denied. See MSPC/3D149 (Military Archives).