[Intro]
Sad are the homes around Garryowen,
Since lost their joy and pride,
And the banshee cry rings every vale,
All along the Shannonside.

That city of the ancient walls,
On broken treaty stone,
Undying fame surrounds your name,
Seán South from Garryowen.

[Verse]
It was on a dreary New Year's Eve as the shades of night came down,
A lorry load of volunteers approached a border town,
There were men from Dublin and from Cork, Fermanagh and Tyrone,
But their leader was a Limerick man, Seán South of Garryowen.

And as they moved along the streets, up to a barrack door,
They scorned the danger they might meet or the fate that lay in store,
They were fighting for old Ireland cause, to claim their very own,
And the foremost of that gallant band was South of Garryowen.

But the sergeant, he foiled their daring plan, he spied them through the door,
The sten guns and all the rifles peal, a hail of death did roar,
And when that awful night was over two men lay cold as stone,
There was one from county Monaghan and one from Garryowen.

No more he will hear the seagulls cry, or the murmuring Shannon tide,
For he fell beneath a northern sky, brave O'Hanlon by his side,
They gone to join that gallant band of Plunkett, Pearse and Tone,
Another martyr for old Ireland, Seán South of Garryowen.