Padraig Gearr Ó Mannin

Who is Padraig Gearr Ó Mannin?

Padraig Gearr Ó Mannin, United Irishman, fl. 1798.

Ó Mannin was a native of Carnacregg, Menlough, who participated in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. A party of several dozen men from Menlough and its surrounding area assembled and marched towards Mayo. However, after only a day, they were informed of the failure of the rebellion and were forced to return home. For several decades after there was bad blood between the United Irishmen of Mayo and Galway, with the former taunting the Galwegians Where were the Galwaymen in the fight at Ballina?

Upon his return, Ó Mannin lived unobtrusively with his mother. However, a regiment of British foot soldiers were passing though Menlough, to participate in the Battle of Ballinamuck. Ó Mannin was forced to hide in his garden to avert arrest.

Two straggler soldiers entered his house and demanded food and drink from his mother. Upon finishing their mean, one of them noticed some bacon hanging in the kitchen. The bally old bitch did not give us a feed of the bacon, said one, to which the other replied She did not! Kill her!

At the sound of her screams, Padraig Gearr leaped over the garden fence, and with his blackthorn stick he beat both soldiers till they were bleeding and prostrate on the floor. They recovered and made off.