On Easter Monday morning when the ICA was about to start the Rising and march towards their positions from Liberty Hall, James Connolly (no relation) approached Sean Connolly, told him how much time he had to get to Dublin Castle, shook his hand and said "Good luck Sean!

[3] At 11:45 am that same day he led a group of ICA members including his brother Matthew and his sister Kate towards Dublin Castle.

Within an hour of the retreat he was shot dead on the roof of City Hall by a British sniper.

[8][9] Kathleen Lynn describes the event: We noticed Sean Connolly coming towards us, walking upright, although we had been advised to crouch and take cover as much as possible.

[12] According to Matthew's own witness statement, he saw his brother wounded, and later, finding himself alone, There were snow boards along the valley gutters, between the sloping sections of the roof, and these I traversed, in an effort to find out where my comrades had gone, but without success, until I came across the body of my brother, Seán.

[14] He married Mary Christina Swanzy in 1910, and they had three children, Margaret, Kevin and Aidan.

After his death she remarried Thomas Joseph McCarthy, a police superintendent, and became a school attendance officer for the Corporation.