Kilmeena is a small village in County Mayo

County Mayo

County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...

, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

, near Westport

Westport, County Mayo

Westport is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is situated on the west coast at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean....

. The village has a Catholic church and a school.

History

The Kilmeena ambush

Kilmeena ambush

The Kilmeena ambush was an action during the Irish War of Independence that took place at Kilmeena, County Mayo on 19 May 1921. The ambush ended in defeat for the local West Mayo Irish Republican Army , with six IRA men killed and seven wounded...

 was the scene of a defeat for the local Irish Republican Army

Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 during the Irish War of Independence

Irish War of Independence

The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...

. On May 19, 1921, British troops surprised an IRA ambush party at Kilmeena. Six IRA men were killed and seven wounded. The remainder of the column fled over the mountains to Skerdagh. One Royal Irish Constabulary

Royal Irish Constabulary

The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital, and the cities of Derry and Belfast, originally with their own police...

 man and one Black and Tans

Black and Tans

The Black and Tans was one of two newly recruited bodies, composed largely of British World War I veterans, employed by the Royal Irish Constabulary as Temporary Constables from 1920 to 1921 to suppress revolution in Ireland...

 member were also killed in the action. The British forces threw the dead and wounded IRA men into the street outside the Police barracks in nearby Westport, causing widespread revulsion among the local people.#
The Irish Press published a report on this ambush with location maps in I think the 1970's

G.A.A

St. Brendan's G.A.A pitch is home to Kilmeena's Gaelic football team, with stand capacity of 200. The club is currently chaired by Michael Carney. The club has produced many successful players including David Feehan and Tomas 'Hot Socks' Gill and the great powerhouse Sean Barrett.

New Management

Mark Ryan is the current manager of Kilmeena GAA Senior team. He has currently adopted a progressive managerial role, focusing on fitness levels as a primary goal. He was appointed as the youngest manager of a Kilmeena football team. Tomas Gill is the team's star player and he is fondly called Ballotelli

Mario Balotelli

Mario Balotelli is an Italian footballer who plays as a striker for English team Manchester City and the Italian national team.He started his professional football career at Lumezzane and only played for the first team twice before having an unsuccessful trial at FC Barcelona, and subsequently...

, after the volatile soccer player, by the locals due to his temperamental playing attitude.