On Friday 26 November 1920, a large force of Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.) and Auxiliaries (The Black and Tans, officially the Royal Irish Constabulary Special Reserve, was a force of Temporary Constables recruited to assist the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Irish War of Independence) swept through the Beagh area in lorries, visiting the homes of wanted men. They proceeded to Shanaglish to the home of the Loughnane brothers, Patrick (Pat), aged 29, and Harry aged 22. The brothers lived in a comfortable farm opposite Shanaglish Church, and worked the farm for their widowed mother Catherine Loughnane (née Grealish). Catherine also had two daughters, Nora and Katie, who were both teachers in North Galway, in addition to a son named Martin (Mattie) and a daughter Mary both of whom were living in the US; Hugh, Catherine's youngest child was then residing in England, but returned to the farm after the terrible atrocity.
Pat was tall, handsome, and powerfully built, a fine hurler, with a winning personality, selected as the leader of many activities in the parish and was involved with the Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.). Reportedly, Pat deeply regretted that he took no part in the 1916 Rising, being then a member of the United Irish League (U.I.L.). Harry was of a gentle, quiet and retiring deposition, studious and fond of reading. Ill health forced him to give up becoming a national school teacher like his two older sisters. Harry was an efficient secretary of the local Sinn Féin club. Though their unit had seen relatively little action in the preceding two years of resistance against the Crown, Patrick had participated in the Castledaly Ambush the previous month, October, which had resulted in the death of a policeman from Kerry.
Pat was tall, handsome, and powerfully built, a fine hurler, with a winning personality, selected as the leader of many activities in the parish and was involved with the Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B.). Reportedly, Pat deeply regretted that he took no part in the 1916 Rising, being then a member of the United Irish League (U.I.L.). Harry was of a gentle, quiet and retiring deposition, studious and fond of reading. Ill health forced him to give up becoming a national school teacher like his two older sisters. Harry was an efficient secretary of the local Sinn Féin club. Though their unit had seen relatively little action in the preceding two years of resistance against the Crown, Patrick had participated in the Castledaly Ambush the previous month, October, which had resulted in the death of a policeman from Kerry.