Editing Easter Rising (section)

=== Ashbourne ===
In north County Dublin, about 60 Volunteers mobilised near [[Swords, Dublin|Swords]]. They belonged to the 5th Battalion of the Dublin Brigade (also known as the Fingal Battalion), and were led by [[Thomas Ashe]] and his second in command, [[Richard Mulcahy]]. Unlike the rebels elsewhere, the Fingal Battalion successfully employed [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla tactics]]. They set up camp and Ashe split the battalion into four sections: three would undertake operations while the fourth was kept in reserve, guarding camp and foraging for food.<ref name="maguire-fingal">Maguire, Paul. [http://www.militaryheritage.ie/wepher/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The_Fingal_Battalion.pdf The Fingal Battalion: A Blueprint for the Future?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506142830/http://www.militaryheritage.ie/wepher/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The_Fingal_Battalion.pdf |date=6 May 2016 }}. ''[[The Irish Sword]]''. [[Military History Society of Ireland]], 2011. pp. 9–13</ref> The Volunteers moved against the RIC barracks in Swords, [[Donabate]] and [[Garristown]], forcing the RIC to surrender and seizing all the weapons.<ref name="maguire-fingal"/> They also damaged railway lines and cut telegraph wires. The railway line at [[Blanchardstown]] was bombed to prevent a troop train from reaching Dublin.<ref name="maguire-fingal"/> This derailed a cattle train, which had been sent ahead of the troop train.<ref>''The 1916 Rebellion Handbook'' p. 27</ref>

The only large-scale engagement of the Rising, outside Dublin city, was at [[Ashbourne, County Meath]].<ref name="Boyle"/>{{sfn|Townshend|2006|pp=215–216}} On Friday, about 35 Fingal Volunteers surrounded the Ashbourne RIC barracks and called on it to surrender, but the RIC responded with a volley of gunfire.<ref name="maguire-fingal"/> A firefight followed, and the RIC surrendered after the Volunteers attacked the building with a homemade grenade.<ref name="maguire-fingal"/> Before the surrender could be taken, up to sixty RIC men arrived in a convoy, sparking a five-hour gun battle, in which eight RIC men were killed and 18 wounded.<ref name="maguire-fingal"/> Two Volunteers were also killed and five wounded,{{sfn|Townshend|2006|pp=218–221}} and a civilian was fatally shot.{{sfn|McGarry|2010|pp=235–237}} The RIC surrendered and were disarmed. Ashe let them go after warning them not to fight against the Irish Republic again.<ref name="maguire-fingal"/> Ashe's men camped at Kilsalaghan near Dublin until they received orders to surrender on Saturday.{{sfn|Townshend|2006|p=221}} The Fingal Battalion's tactics during the Rising foreshadowed those of the IRA during the [[Irish War of Independence|War of Independence]] that followed.<ref name="maguire-fingal"/>

Volunteer contingents also mobilised nearby in counties Meath and Louth but proved unable to link up with the North Dublin unit until after it had surrendered. In [[County Louth]], Volunteers shot dead an RIC man near the village of [[Castlebellingham]] on 24 April, in an incident in which 15 RIC men were also taken prisoner.<ref name="Boyle"/>{{sfn|Townshend|2006|p=224}}