Battle of Ballinalee

The Battle of Ballinalee was an engagement of the Irish War of Independence, fought by British soldiers and auxiliaries, against Seán Mac Eoin's North Longford Flying Column of the Irish Republican Army. The engagement took place in 1920, at the centre of Ballinalee village, County Longford, Ireland. The 1000 British troops hoped to burn the town as a reprisal, but were repulsed by the 300 Irish. The village was the only one in all of Ireland to repel the English outright.^{[citation needed]}