Down by Sheelins vale at sunset,
Fierce as demons in their wrath,
Spread a band of English troopers
Fire and carnage marked their path.
2. Midnight shines, and blazing rooftree
Lit the darkness of the night,
From the shores of fair Lough Gowna
Th the slopes of Granards height.
3. Maid and mother fell before them,
All in wrath and vengeance smote,
And in pride the foemans legion
Onward sped to Granards Moat.
4. We marched that morn from Creenagh
To oppose them on their way,
And by river, lake or mountain
Made we neither stop or stay.
5. Till a band of English troopers
Crossed our path at Edgeworthstown
And we piked the last red foeman
As the evening sun went down.
6. Early in the dewy morning,
As the day began to dawn
Towards the ancient moat of Granard
We were proudly marching on.
7. High oerhead us waved our banner
In its beauty fair and free,
Borne by men from Carrickmoira
And the plains of Killashee.
8. From the banks of Cloonart river
And from Cleaneys village green,
Hastning onwards to the onset
Many a gallant youth was seen.
9. As we reached the heights of Granard
Right before us formed in line,
We could see the English legion
And their spears and banner shine.
| 10. For a moments space we halted
As we came within their view,
Then a deadly thirst for vengeance
Filled our bosoms through and through.
11. With a shout that loudly echoed
To the far-off Shannon shore,
Through the red ranks of the foeman
In a furious rush we tore.
12. With that rush our gallant pikemen
Leaped against their foremost line,
And their blades drank deep in vengeance
For many a bloody crime.
13. Fast and deadly evry weapon
Found a Saxon foemans breast,
As our fierce and maddened pikemen
Through their columns thickly pressed.
14. Granards ancient moat was reddened
By the blood of friend and foe,
Well we met them with their bayonets
With our pike their sabre-blow.
15. Backwards pressed against the valley
Bravely fighting to the last,
But again our gallant pikemen
Gathered round them fierce and fast.
16. Morning saw their haughty standard
In its pride and glory wave;
Evening saw the foemans legion
Crushed and sunk in one red grave.
17. And where stood the ranks of Britain
By the light of mornings dawn,
Oer their graves in proud defiance
Erins rebel banner shone.
18. Longford long shall tell the story,
How her children bravely stood
In that fight for Erins glory
Brave and stern as freemen should.
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