After being chased by a force of Young Irelanders and their supporters, an Irish Constabulary unit took refuge in a house and held those inside as hostages.

As with the earlier United Irishmen, who sought to emulate the French Revolution,[citation needed] the Young Irelanders were inspired by Republicanism in America and in Europe.

At least temporarily, absolutist governments were replaced by liberal administrations, suffrage was introduced for a portion of the population and elections were held to constituent assemblies to draw up new national constitutions.

Their goal was independence of the Irish nation and they held to any means to achieve that which were consistent with honour, morality and reason.

[6][page needed] Leaders William Smith O'Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher and Richard O'Gorman led a delegation to Paris to congratulate the new French Republic.

As the police from Callan approached the crossroads before The Commons from Ballingarry, they saw barricades in front of them and, thinking discretion the better part of valour, they veered right up the road toward County Kilkenny.

Sub-Inspector Trant and his 46 policemen took refuge in a large two-storey farmhouse, taking the five young children in the house as hostages.

The initial report to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland stated that a constable fired the first shot at O'Brien, who was attempting to negotiate.

So great was the pressure of the crowd that one man, Thomas Walsh, was forced to cross from one side of the front gate to the other.

The rebels then faded away, effectively terminating both the era of Young Ireland and Repeal, but the consequences of their actions would follow them for many years.

He was sentenced to transportation to Bermuda, where he joined other convicts labouring on the construction of the Royal Naval Dockyard on Ireland Island.

He was subsequently sent to Van Diemen's Land (in present-day Tasmania, Australia) where he was soon to be joined by other leaders, such as William Smith O'Brien and Thomas Francis Meagher who had both been arrested after Ballingarry.

Meagher and John Mitchel (who had been transported there before for political activities) both managed to escape and emigrate to the United States in the early 1850s.

In Paris, they supported themselves by teaching and with translation work and planned the next stage of "the fight to overthrow British rule in Ireland".