Sean Moylan From Kiskeam Poem by Francis Duggan

I once heard him speak in Millstreet I was just a little boy
And the cheers of his supporters re-echoed to the sky
And I asked a man beside me what's the politician's name
And he answered me young fellow that's Sean Moylan from Kiskeam.

And even though I was a youngster I could tell the man was great
I could understand why Moylan's was a name to celebrate
As he tongue lashed his opponents playing the true Byronic part
And with his witty comments he won the listener heart.

A special kind of person in his own special way
Wearing his famous dark rimmed glasses and with hair of silvery gray
He was likeable and witty as most bright men seem to be
And he drove his loyal supporters into fits of ecstasy.

And the Moylanites were there that day in plentiful supply
They had come to see their hero Duhallow's pride and joy
He lauded his own Party and ran his opponents down
As he stood on board a lorry at the Square in Millstreet Town.

An Irish freedom fighter and Minister in the Dail
The darling of Cork County and the pride of Fianna Fail
In Ireland's fight for freedom a brave man amongst men
And the hero of the ambush at Tureengariffe Glen.

And in that General Election he went down to defeat
He lost his seat in Parliament surrendered his Dail seat
To a fellow Fianna Failer his Dail seat he did lose
To a man most folk will tell you could not fill the great one's shoes.

Though long dead he's not forgotten in eternal rest he lie
And the name of any great man takes a long, long time to die
And that Kiskeam politician with high intellect of mind
Had that something extra special lacked by ordinary kind.




I once heard him speak in Millstreet and the memory with me will remain
The one and only Moylan freedom fighter for Sinn Fein
A famous politician with the genius of a poet
And a man I'd have loved to vote for were I then the age to vote.