G                                 C                    G
It was on a dreary new year's eve as the shades of night came down,
  G             C    G       Em           C      D
A lorry load of volunteers approached the border town,
          G               C        G        Em     C     D
There was men from Dublin and from Cork, Fermanagh and Tyrone,
          G                     Em        C               G
And their leader was a Limerick man, Sean South from Garryowen

[Verse 2]
    G                                  C              G
And as they moved along the streets up to the barrack door,
     G                  C          G           Em        C      D
They scorned the danger they might face, their fate that lay in store,
          G                C  G        Em          C    D
They were fighting for old Ireland, to claim their very own,
        G                        Em       C               G
And the foremost of that gallant band was South from Garryowen.

[Verse 3]
        G                                     C                      G
But the sergeant foiled their daring plan, he spied them through the door,
    G                 C  G     Em      C         D
The Sten guns and the rifles a hail of death did pour,
    G               C         G         Em         C       D
And when that awful night was past, two men lay as cold as stone,
          G                    Em       C             G
There was one from near the border, and one from Garryowen.

[Verse 4]
   G                                          C                 G
No more he will hear the seagull cry o'er the murmuring Shannon tide,
       G              C        G          Em     C  G   D
For he fell beneath a Northern sky, brave Hanlon by his side,
          G                 C       G       Em        C          D
They have gone to join that gallant band of Plunkett, Pearse and Tone,
  G                 Em         C               G
A martyr for old Ireland, Sean South from Garryowen