The IRA force was under the command of Sean Moylan and comprised almost 100 volunteers from counties Cork and Kerry, armed with rifles, hand grenades and a machine gun.

Their target was a British Army convoy of three lorries, an armoured car and a touring car carrying Colonel Commandant Hanway Robert Cumming.

[4] The convoy was travelling from Killarney to Buttevant and comprised almost 40 soldiers of the East Lancashire Regiment.

As Cumming jumped from his car, he was shot in the head and died instantly.

Although accounts of British casualties differ, at least two Officers and two soldiers were killed and one policeman was wounded.