Rural revenge movie released this weekend

Ultan Sherry

Almost two centuries on to the day from the date of the tragic event it depicts, a film partially shot in Kingscourt premiered in Dublin last week.
‘Wild Goose Lodge’ is an historical drama based on the true story of the Lynch family who were killed in an arson attack on their home on October 28, 1816.
At that time, the nationalist ‘Ribbonmen’ had embarked on a campaign of reprisals on British authorities whenever nationalists were in danger of losing their land from falling behind on rent payments. In April 1816, three ribbonmen broke into the home of Edward Lynch and his family at Wild Goose Lodge in Reaghstown, Co Louth, in a bid to take weapons and money. Their botched attempts however resulted in a struggle in which, one Ribbonman lost his disguise, revealing to Edward Lynch and his son-in-law, Tom Rooney that the unmasked ribbonman was Patrick Tiernan. He was subsequently hanged for his part after Lynch and Rooney had testified against him in court.
The hanging shocked the Reaghstown community, as they felt that they had been betrayed by their own community in testifying to the same British authorities that routinely persecuted them. On October 28, 1816, the sarcistran of the local church, Patrick Devane, gathered a group of local Ribbonmen in the church at around midnight, where they swore a blood revenge against Edward Lynch and Tom Rooney. Torches were lit and the mob marched up to Wild Goose Lodge and demanded that Lynch and Rooney leave the home, to spare their family. However, when they refused, the Ribbonmen set the thatched house ablaze, killing Lynch and Rooney, along with Edward’s wife Kate, as well as their daughter and Tom’s wife Lizzie. Lizzie’s younger brother and her baby daughter also died, along with three servants who were working on the Lynch farm at the time.

THE PREMIERE
The film premiere took place at a sell-out audience at the Savoy Cinema on O’Connell Street, and the film will be in cinemas nationwide from Friday, October 28, the 200th anniversary of the incident. The film stars ‘Fair City’ actor Dave Duffy as the parish priest of the time, Fr Thomas McCann and the remainder of the cast is made up of Reaghstown locals.
Fr McCann had served in the parish of Stonetown at the time and was tasked with trying to maintain the peace between the Lynch family and the locals eager for revenge.
The harrowing story has been passed down from generation to generation in Reaghstown, including one William Martin, who was later inspired to make a film about the atrocity.
“About seven years ago we started planning that we would make a movie, and I knew the story from when I was a child because of older people telling me,” Mr Martin told The Anglo-Celt this week.
Making a movie from this story was always William’s ambition.
“I rang up a few people and assembled them one Sunday morning and said that we were going to make a movie. From that day on, we started working on it, and three and a half years ago we started filming it,” William explained.
Every person involved had been given the Hollywood red carpet treatment, getting their picture taken and mingling with some big names.
Amongst those were Mullagh actor Micheal Collins, who appears as a hangman in two short scenes.
“I think it’s a brilliant film and it’s great to see it over the line,” Michael enthused. “It’s an historic piece for around that area, and it’s a story that will live on for another hundred years.

Wild Goose Lodge opens in Cavan’s Odeon Cinema on Friday, October 28.