The life and death of the only 1916 Easter Rising leader to die in action was recalled yesterday when a memorial to The O'Rahilly was unveiled on O'Rahilly Parade, off Moore Street, Dublin, writes Alison Healy
Michael Joseph Rahilly, who began calling himself "The O'Rahilly" in 1911, was the first of the 1916 leaders to die in the Easter Rising. As the GPO was on fire, he led 12 volunteers down Moore Street in an attempt to set up another garrison. However, he was shot and died in a doorway.
As he was dying, he wrote a note to his wife, Nancy. The note was spotted by a cleaner as his body lay in a barracks, and its text is now carried on the bronze and limestone memorial sculpted by Shane Cullen. In the note he explained that he had been shot, perhaps more than once, but added: "It was a good fight anyhow." He sent "tons and tons of love" to his wife and five surviving children - a sixth had died in infancy.
The memorial was unveiled by O'Rahilly's daughter-in-law, Blathnaid Uí Rathaille. She lived with her mother-in-law for 10 years and said Nancy often sat by the fire and reminisced about her late husband.
At yesterday's ceremony Garret FitzGerald recalled the friendship his father had had with O'Rahilly. Desmond FitzGerald was the last person to speak to O'Rahilly as he left the GPO. According to FitzGerald's memoirs O'Rahilly said: "This is the end now for certain. I never dreamed it would last so long . . . but fancy missing this, and then getting killed running for a tram or catching a cold."
