Cruachan
Nine Years of Blood
1. I Am Tuan
2. Hugh O'Neill - Earl of Tyrone
From the clan O’Neill in Tyrone
A leader would arise
Born to a world of conflict
And a crown he would despise.
His name was Hugh O’Neill
Raised in the English Pale
He served his English Lords
And fought against the noble Gael
But this was all a ruse
A scan to hide his true intent
He built a massive army
With a duty to dissent
The English called him a traitor!
The Irish rallied to his call
Through power play and struggle,
O’Neill would lead them all!
O’Neill, O’Neill, O’Neill Arise!
War is fast approaching, and Ireland is the prize
O’Neill, O’Neill, O’Neill Command!
The English are upon us let us drive them from our land
He sought aid from Spain and Scotland
He secured his Northern lands.
The English lords were furious
They began to draw up his plans
.
He sacked the fort – Blackwater
Killing English lords and more,
The wheels were now in motion,
So began the Nine Years War!
3. Blood and Victory
The English did increase their strangle hold on Irish land.
Their garrisons grew in number, under Bagenal’s command.
O’Neill besieged a fort, he held to ransom eighty men,
Henry Bagenal though this folly, and set his army to defend.
Near two thousand troops Bagenal did have a hand,
Veterans of Spanish wars were his to command.
His confidence as great; his arrogance it knew no bounds
He did not realise he faced a pack of Irish Hounds
Bagenal was ambushed as they marched towards the fort,
Irish muskets fired as cavalry attacked with force.
The English then did charge and made a dash towards the gate,
They reached their destination but their losses they were great!
Two short days did pass, and the resupply was complete,
English forces left the fortress, in darkness they tried to retreat.
The Irish watched and were waiting, they attacked with vigour so true,
Their cavalry caused so much chaos, the number of English dead grew.
O’Neill himself did fight hand to hand upon the field,
Against an English cavalry man who fell to Irish steel.
Banegal led his force to a hilltop engulfed in flame,
There they awaited their end but the Irish never came.
O’Neill’s muskets had run dry of the powder that they crave,
So he left the battle leaving hundreds in their graves.
Banegal quickly fled, O’Neill revelled with his men,
At the battle of the yellow ford, they would meet again.
4. Queen of War
I am ageless, timeless, before me you will kneel.
To worship me, and honour me,
Pledge your life, your land, your steel.
I soar above the turmoil
of battle, war and strife,
Gathering the souls of men,
of those who lost their life.
I am bloodless, and faceless,
A shadow in the night.
You fear me, revere me,
you speak my name with spite.
The Goddess dressed in black.
The phantom queen of war,
Many names have been bestowed,
Many forms I do endure!
Queen of War
I am endless, and formless,
My reign is absolute.
So pray to me, adore me,
Be you rich or destitute.
Crafting courage in the hearts,
Of warriors bold and true.
Victory blood and honour,
These gifts I give to you!
Queen of War
To War!
5. The Battle of the Yellow Ford
Forces of the crown assembled,
to march against The Gael.
To aid the Blackwater Fort,
the English were doomed to fail!
Henry Banegal was in command
of four thousand armoured men,
Hugh O’Neill did lead the Irish,
they took position in wood and glen.
The road to the fort was lethal,
with a trench dug far and wide,
Marshalled at the Yellow Ford,
the Irish army did reside.
Six regiments the English held,
and towards the fort they marched,
Irish Kerns, concealed in the woods,
Gave the order – Attack, Attack!
O’Neill did search for Banegal,
he wished to settle this hand to hand,
But the Marshall had already fallen,
Hugh O’Neill was in command!
The English store of power
was targeted and did explode,
Men began to flee through the river-
of English blood that flowed.
The English struggled and fought
until the massive trench was reached was reached,
Their casualties were already great,
as their lines were cruelly breached.
A mistake in Banegal’s tactics
would prove fatal to his fight,
His regiments were spaced too wide,
a fault the Irish did exploit.
And so the battle did end,
half the forces of the crown were lost,
But an escalation of the war,
would be the ultimate cost!
6. Cath na Brioscai
Crown forces were under siege,
In the county of Fermanagh.
So a resupply was sent,
To offer aid and bring relief.
Henry Duke, he led the way,
Of this small relief force.
He expected no resistance,
The Irish had other plans!
Their march would take four days,
They were laden with food supplies,
Riflemen hid in the woods,
Targeting soldiers as they could.
The Irish attacked in force,
at the ford of the Arney River.
The ambush was absolute,
The resupply was abandoned.
The survivors fled to Cavan,
their defeat did cause alarm.
Fresh troops were sent from England,
A change of tactics was at hand!
7. The Harp, the Lion, the Dragon and the Sword
The harp, the lion, the dragon and sword, a unity of death,
Upon the banners present in the growing English threat.
The Earl of Essex finished, Mountjoy would lead the way,
He won the Queens favour her message he would convey.
With his two lieutenants –Chichester and Carew,
Mountjoy would change the course of war , an end was now in view.
But not before an epic task – Rebellion in the south!
His forces were dispatched to stamp the bloody rebellion out!
MacCarthy and Carew reached an accord regarding Munster,
A neutral stance was taken by the cowardly Gaelic leader.
The forces of the crown could then focus on Fitzthomas,
The main rebel leader fought with all his might and valour.
The forces of Carew attacked Fitzthomas with such strength,
They killed twelve hundred rebels bringing an end to their dissent.
Fitzthomas, he was captured, to London he was bound,
The rebellion in Munster now an empty battleground.
8. An Ale Before Battle
9. Nine Years of Blood
10. The Siege of Kinsale
The fate of Ireland’s freedom would be decided at Kinsale,
The conclusion of the Nine Years War, the decimation of the Gael!
In Sixteen Hundred and One, The Spanish joined the fight,
They landed at Kinsale, Four thousand blades the Spanish bore.
Mountjoy rallied for battle, with a plan to win the war,
Towards the Spanish forces, he would meet them at Kinsale.
O’Neill did leave his stronghold in the North,
The Spanish would need aid, and tactical support.
He destroyed the lands of his enemy as he marched,
Leaving hundreds dead, their lands with fire he scorched!
Mountjoy’s men surrounded all of Kinsale
The Spanish under siege, arrows fell like hail.
The English navy cut the town off from the sea,
O’Neill knew the time had come, prepare to fight or flee!
The English had strength in numbers but the ridge, the Irish held,
O’Neill ordered a surprise attack, as the English cavalry swelled.
The cavalry attacked with fierce, they charged through O’Neill’s men.
An army that was close to destruction – from starvation, disease and drought,
Had turned the war in their favour, the Irish were near wiped out.
The Spanish forces surrendered, O’Neill fled to the North!
11. Flight of the Earls
O’Neill did fight heroically at the battle of Kinsale.
He nearly broke the English. He nearly did prevail.
But in the end the English won, O’Neill was an outcast.
An exile in the land he loved, a ruler of the past.
“In this land I cannot be, here I cannot stay.
I’d rather go and leave this place to famine and decay”
His earls were in agreement, they made plans to sail to Spain.
To plan a re-invasion, to remove the English reign.
The Nine Years War was over, and Ireland lay in ruin.
The Gaelic order ending, like the waxing of the moon.
From Rathmullan they departed, one hundred travellers strong.
A funerary march that was devoid of any song.
They never did reach Spain, in France they parted ways.
O’Neill arrived in Italy, made plans to re-invade.
But a Spanish re-invasion, it never came to be.
The earls they died in exile, Ireland now would not be free!
The Nine Years War had come to its end,
Ireland to England would ascend.
Their language and religion would ensure,
Eight hundred years was their rule!
Eight hundred years was their rule!
12. Back Home in Derry
In 1803 we sailed out to sea
Out from the sweet town of Derry
For Australia bound if we didn't all drown
And the marks of our fetters we carried
In our rusty iron chains we cried for our weans
Our good women we left in sorrow
As the mainsails unfurled, our curses we hurled
On the English, and thoughts of tomorrow
At the mouth of the Foyle, bid farewell to the soil
As down below decks we were lying
O'Doherty screamed, woken out of a dream
By a vision of bold Robert dying
The sun burned cruel as we dished out the gruel
Dan O'Connor was down with a fever
Sixty rebels today bound for Botany Bay
How many will meet their receiver
Oh Oh Oh Oh I wish I was back home in Derry
Oh Oh Oh Oh I wish I was back home in Derry
I cursed them to hell as her bow fought the swell
Our ship danced like a moth in the firelight
White horses rode high as the devil passed by
Taking souls to Hades by twilight
Five weeks out to sea, we were now forty-three
We buried our comrades each morning
In our own slime we were lost in a time
Of endless night without dawning
Van Diemen's land is a hell for a man
To end out his whole life in slavery
Where the climate is raw and the gun makes the law
Neither wind nor rain care for bravery
Twenty years have gone by, I've ended my bond
My comrades ghosts walk behind me
A rebel I came - I'm still the same
On the cold winters night you will find me
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