By John Harrington

The centenary commemorations of the 1916 Rising have been a very special time for Seán Boylan and his family.

The legendary former Meath manager has a powerful link to that crucial period in Irish history because his father, also named Seán, was a pivotal player in the Rising and the continued struggle for independence that followed it.

It was no surprise that Seán Boylan Snr was a committed freedom fighter, because he came from a long line of them. A previous generation of the family had been involved in the Fenian rising of 1867 and deported to the penal colony in Van Diemen’s Land.

By 1916 Seán Boylan Snr was a Captain in the Irish Volunteers and responsible for the Meath area and a member of the General Council. He met monthly with all the leaders of the subsequent Rebellion, and was a particularly close ally of Padraig Perase.

“Pearse said to him, ‘you did more for me than any man since Parnell’,” Boylan told GAA.ie. “They were hugely close, really.”

Before the Rising commenced, Boylan asked Pearse could he bring his men into Dublin to take a central part in it. But he was ordered not to go beyond Mulhaddart and instead given the task of keeping communications to and from the City open.

Boylan’s subsequent involvement in the Rising during Easter week summed up the confusion that was created by Eoin MacNeill’s countermanding order to cancel the Rebellion. Having dispersed his men, Boylan struggled to gather them all together again, but was determined to do all he could with what limited men and arms he could muster.

He gave the order to destroy the railway bridge at Clonsilla and made frustrating and time-consuming efforts to meet up with the Maynooth volunteers before proceeding with his men to Mulhuddart where they commandeered Tyrrellstown House. There he was ordered to await instructions, but none ever came until they were told that the surrender had taken place.

When Boylan and his three brothers, Ned, Joe, and Peter eventually made it back to Dunboyne, they were arrested and taken to Richmond Barracks where they were imprisoned with leaders of the Rising like Eamon Ceannt, Sean McDermott, and John McBride. Boylan was the last man to shake Eamon Ceannt’s hand before Ceannt was taken out and executed.

From there, Boylan was taken by cattle-boat to Wandsworth Prison where he later wrote the Irish prisoners were ‘treated as if we were wild animals’. As the tide of publication opinion turned against the British back in Ireland in the aftermath of the executions, conditions in the Prison gradually improved and the Irish Parliamentary Party supplied extra food.

But even though he was exhausted with hunger, Boylan refused to eat it on a point of principle because he believed the Irish Party would use it as propaganda against the Rebel prisoners.

“My father was a very principled man but he was not the type to force his principles or beliefs on other people,” says Boylan. “He actually left school when he was nine years old because he refused to take the pledge. His attitude was that he didn’t want to make a promise he might break when he was older.

“So he felt his only option was to leave school rather than make the pledge. So he was clearly a principled sort of person from a young age. He was nine years of age. And the parish priest came up to his mother and she said you’ll find he won’t do too much wrong. And as it transpired, he would never drink a drop anyway."

By a strange quirk of fate and history, Boylan would not be the last of his line to pay Wandsworth a visit. His Grandson, another Seán, was there in a very different capacity thanks to his talent as an Opera singer.

“There’s a very big music school there now in Wandsworth and our son Seán was over there doing an audition for an opera company,” says Boylan. "When the audition was over they were interviewing him and they asked him were any of his people ever there before. And he said, ‘well, my Grandfather was in jail here!’

"The irony was that in May of last year Sean performed in Hillsborough Castle for Prince Charles, and it’s nice to see the way life has moved on, a bit like the Queen visiting Croke Park. He received a letter afterwards from Prince Charles, so it’s gas. The slagging was that it was going up on the wall alongside the picture of Padraig Pearse!”

Before the 1916 Rising, Seán Boylan Snr won five Meath county hurling titles with his club Dunboyne. So he clearly passed on both a love of the GAA as well as his leadership skills to his son who famously led the Royal County to four All-Ireland Football titles as manager.

“He always believed in me more than I perhaps did in myself,” says Boylan. “My father was a natural leader of men, whereas it was something I had to work at a bit more. I’m not saying that looking for someone to clap me on the back, that’s true.

“My parents made me what I am. My father was just a huge influence on me. Basically because of the trust he had in me. He had faith in me that I would be able to do what I did. He had far bigger faith in me than I had in myself.

“It was a powerful lesson and when you’re dealing with people yourself then for the rest of your life you realise the importance of being positive, especially when things are going against you. How to sort things out and not let them overwhelm you. That’s desperately important. Don’t be afraid, that’s it.”

Perhaps the greatest example of Seán Boylan Snr’s leadership came during the Civil War. By then he was a General and commanded the First Eastern Division of the Free State Army. But even though many parts of the country were riven by bitter fighting between free-state and anti-treaty forces, he managed to keep his entire Division loyal and there were no executions or reprisals in his area.

So even though the 1916 commemorations have been such a positive experience for the country and a proud moment for his family, Boylan is dismayed by the fact that those old Civil war divisions can still cast a shadow over it in some ways.

““It’s a proud moment for the family, but the way in which the centenary has been marked has been great for the country as a whole,” says Boylan. “I just feel that it’s been far more open than the 50th anniversary commemorations were, which I remember well. 

“The shadow of the Civil War was probably still causing some hurt back then, and it was almost as if people were reluctant to talk about certain things or celebrate them. This time, there’s been a far more open discussion and I think that’s been great.

“But it’s amazing that the divisions have come up again now with this inability to form a Government. Hopefully people will have the strength to resolve it. Don’t be afraid, if you’re good enough and you do what you say they’ll still vote for you!

“It’s time to bury all that cute hoorism. Just get on and do what has to be done. This whole thing of waiting for another election, waiting for another five years, don’t go into power yet, just get it sorted out. It’s like saying, ‘ah no, I won’t win the All-Ireland this year, I’ll wait another five years’! Everything changes so much and when you get an opportunity in life it’s very important to take it.”

---

**After Sunday's Allianz Football League Division 1 and Division 2 Finals the GAA will present 'LAOCHRA - The GAA Commemorates 1916', a theatrical production presenting the story of Ireland that will include the best elements of Irish cultural entertainment, phenomenal special effects, and a cast of thousands. **