Dill Eireann News Today

“…the general awakening that was taking place in Ireland seemed to make us forget everything else for the time and think only of the fight in prospect.” – Joe McGarrity Joe McGarrity was Éamon de Valera’s right hand man in America and was once described by poet Padraic Colum as “a gallowglass ready to swing

℘ Joe McGarrity was éamon de Valera’s right hand man in America and was once described by poet Padraic Colum as “a gallowglass ready to swing a battleaxe with his long arms.” It was an apt description for the old warrior. McGarrity was born in Carrickmore, County Tyrone, in 1874. Legend has it that as a penniless 16-year-old he walked to Dublin, boarded a cattle boat to Liverpool disguised as a drover, and sailed to America on someone else’s ticket. He settled in Philadelphia and ma...