text: who was  michael collins ? any irish here ?  who was michaelson collins ? see.... you could have gone to yahoo.com and typed michael collins in the search window, but here... let me do your homework for you, cause you are lazy:   on 16 october 1890 michael collins was born near sam's cross, a tiny hamlet in west cork, named after sam wallace, a local highwayman. sam's cross lies between rosscarbery and clonakilty. here, in a picturesque valley between river and sea, the young michael grew up. as a lad, he spear-fished for salmon in the river and played among the cliffs above black beach and at cliodhna's rock. but, as was typical of the times, michael never learned to swim.  michael's father, michael john collins was sixty years old when he married a local girl, marianne o'brien. marianne was only twenty-three, but they were apparently happy and went on to have eight children. michael, the youngest, was born when his father was seventy-five.  michael's father was a farmer by trade, not rich, but living comfortably for the times on a holding of ninety acres. the farm was called woodfield after a hill in the area. when michael was six, his father died.  michael attended national school at lisavaird, and the schoolmaster there was to have a large influence on michael's life. for this schoolmaster, denis lyons, was an active member of the irish republican brotherhood, a secret organisation dedicated to ousting the british from ireland, by force if necessary. lyons and the local blacksmith, james santry, another fenian, were michael's first tutors in giving him a sense of pride of the irish as a race. throughout michael collins' brief life, irishness was the thing that held the greatest meaning for him.  big for his age, michael had a keen mind as well as a fit, athletic body. he loved to read. his sister, mary ann, heightened his interest in the struggle for nationalism, and because of her, he devoured the writings of men such as poet and nationalist, thomas davis. worried that he might fall in with a bad sort, his mother sent him to clonakilty to study for the post office examinations and to live with his sister margaret. here he worked briefly for his brother-in-law who owned the west cork people, a newspaper of the area. michael learned typesetting and wrote articles of local sporting events. after a year and a half, he went to london where he lived with his sister hannie, in west kensington and worked for the postal savings bank in west kensington. he was fifteen. michael would spend the next nine years in london.  michael's years in london he was active in the gaelic athletic league and in the irish republican brotherhood (irb). later, michael collins was to become first the secretary and then the president of the irb.  the rising in 1916, michael returned to dublin to take part in the planned insurrection. he received a volunteer's uniform and as captain michael collins he was second in command to joseph mary plunkett in the general post office during easter week. collins made no secret that he admired the realism of men like sean mac diarmada more than the aesthetic padraig pearse. and though he played a minor part in the rising, his sense of duty and clear-headedness were remembered.  following the rising, michael, as a prisoner of war, was sent to richmond barracks and later to frongoch internment camp in wales. he returned home to ireland in december 1916. but it was at frongoch where michael collins' ability as an organizer became recognized. and immediately following his release, he rebuilt the irb.  organisation in 1917, he was elected to the sinn fein executive.during 1917 and 1918, his activities included: creating an intelligence network, organising a national loan to fund a rebellion, creating an assassination squad ("the twelve apostles") and an arms-smuggling operation. by 1920, michael collins was wanted by the british and had a price of #10,000 stg. on his head.  in 1919, michael collins personally, wit