Annagloor's Matty Fitz

From the nineteen seventies two Irish champions from Annagloor of we have to recall Jim Twohig in athletics and Denis Long in Gaelic football In their prime against Ireland's best with success they did compete And in sports they are amongst the best of Millstreet But a century before them one who never competed in athletics or played Gaelic football Was one old timers of my young years i often heard recall His name Matty Fitz he lived in Annagloor A brave man who did speak out for Ireland's rural poor When against the foreign based government in Ireland few dared to speak out Of his true feelings the brave Matty Fitz never did leave anyone in doubt As a leading member of the Duhallow Land League movement many a stirring speech by him made Yet in his honour never a memorial or a parade Many years before the historical ambush at Tureengarriffe Glen The brave Matty Fitz proved himself a man amongst men The hero of the countryside west of Millstreet Town But sad to say his life story in notebook was never written down His granddaughter Liz McAuliffe is Annagloor's oldest person today Though close to if not in her nineties young at heart she does stay The nearest living relative to an honorable man of renown The bravest of the brave men west of Millstreet Town.