Seán Hogan Seán Hogan ( 13 May 1901 – 24 December 1968 ) was one of the leaders of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence . Soloheadbeg . On 21 January 1919 , Hogan and Dan Breen , together with Seán Treacy , Séamus Robinson and five other IRA members helped to ignite the conflict that was to become the Irish War of Independence . They shot dead two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary ( RIC ) - Constables McDonell and O ’ Connell - at Soloheadbeg in County Tipperary . The RIC men were transporting gelignite explosives , when they refused to surrender them , the IRA shot them dead . Robinson was the organiser of the action , while Treacy was the logistics expert . " On the eventful day Dwyer saw the explosives , 160 pounds of gelignite , being loaded on a cart and heading off with a guard of two policemen . He cycled ahead and watched as they took the long route to the Soloheadbeg quarry . He took the short route and informed the anxious Volunteers of the convoy ' s size and movements . The horse was being led by two workmen , Edward Godfrey and Patrick Flynn , while the two policemen , Constables Patrick McDonnell and James O ' Connell , walked behind with their rifles slung over their shoulders . As they passed Cranitch ' s Field near the quarry the policemen were called on to surrender by masked men . When they took up firing positions Seán Treacy , followed by Breen and Robinson , opened fire . " As a result of the action , South Tipperary was placed under martial law and declared a Special Military Area under the Defence of the Realm Act . Knocklong . After Hogan was arrested on 12 May 1919 three of the other men who were part of the Soloheadbeg ambush ( Dan Breen , Seán Treacy and Séamus Robinson ) were joined by five men from IRA East Limerick Brigade in order to organise Hogan ' s rescue . Hogan was being transported by train to Cork on 13 May 1919 , and the men , led by Treacy , boarded the train in Knocklong . A close - range shoot - out followed on the train . Treacy and Breen were seriously wounded in the gun fight , two policemen died , but Hogan was rescued . He was spirited away to Knocklong village where his handcuffs were cleaved by Séan Lynch , one of the rescuers , in the local butcher ' s shop . Peace Time . Hogan took no part in the Civil War . He went back to farming in Donohill but sold the farm some time afterwards , he then bought a vegetable farm in County Dublin but this venture did not succeed . He married Christina Butler and had three sons ; Hugh , Thomas and Sean . In later years he was in poor circumstances , he lived on his own in North Great George ' s Street , Dublin . Due to illness in his later years his memory was not quite so clear and his handwriting was almost illegible . He was also very disillusioned with the way the Irish people had developed their country from the time the Republic of Ireland gained freedom . Hogan stayed with Seamus Robinson and his family in their house on highfield road close to his death . He died aged sixty seven on Christmas Eve 1968 . There was a brief reference to his death on RTE . He is buried in the family grave in Tipperary town .