In July 1941 the pair cycled heavily laden bicycles to County Clare to investigate Pollnagollum,[4] and over the ensuing years undertook a systematic exploration of the cave system.
In 1944 the Royal Irish Academy published an article on the cave system by Coleman and Dunnington,[7] which received widespread praise from the scientific community and attracted a new wave of speleologists to the Burren.
[8] Coleman would later cite the relationship that he built with the society over the following years to be a major stimulus in continuing his work on Irish caves, and ultimately in completing his book on the subject.
[4] Throughout the 1950s Coleman carried out much scientific fieldwork in areas such as Counties Sligo, Monaghan and Kerry,[4][9][10] and the Cong region,[11] which would pave the way for further discoveries by local and visiting speleologists.
[15] Originally written by Coleman as his MA thesis at Cork University,[3] the book was the first and currently only publication to comprehensively list and describe cave sites throughout Ireland.