The 103rd anniversary of the death of one of Ireland’s most iconic revolutionaries and politicians, who was a major force in the early-20th century struggle for Irish independence, falls on Friday. “It is poignant to remember that this machine led the way for Michael Collins’ convoy on that fateful day in 1922 and was just yards away from Collins as he was dying on the roadside,” Tim Crowley, founder of the Michael Collins Centre, said. A local garage donated parts of a 1919 Triumph Model H to the Michael Collins Centre in 2017. The garage owner, the late Conor Murphy, told Mr Crowley the motorbike had belonged to Michael Collins. “What followed was years of on and off research, where I found a lot of evidence of Michael Collins riding a bicycle, but no evidence of Michael Collins ever riding a motorbike,” Mr Crowley said. “This research has led me to believe that the remains of the motorbike are not the remains of Michael Collins’ bike but rather the remains of the motorbike that led his convoy on the day that he was shot.” The lead vehicle in Michael Collins’ convoy on his final journey through West Cork on Tuesday August 22, 1922, was a Model H Triumph motorbike driven by motorcycle scout Lieutenant John Joseph Smith, Mr Crowley said. Collins’ convoy was attacked by anti-Treaty forces at Béal na Bláth in West Cork and he was shot in the head. “During the battle at Béal na Bláth, Smith was wounded in the neck while helping to lift the dying Michael Collins off the road with the officers of the convoy. “Lieut Smith was then unable to drive the motorbike and it was abandoned at the ambush site. "Tom Hales the officer in charge of the Anti-Treaty ambush party, took possession of the motorbike and some years later gave it to Bruno O’Donoghue, who was working as a supervisor of milk testing for Bandon Co-Op." A founding member of a branch of the Fine Gael party in Bandon in 1933, in 1936 Mr O’Donoghue went to Spain to fight under General Eoin O’Duffy on the nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War, Mr Crowley said. The motorbike then went to Colonel PJ Coughlan, who had once been a close associate of Michael Collins. Col Coughlan, an engineer, set up a number of small hydro-electric schemes locally in the 1940s before rural electrification. “During that time, Coughlan dismantled the motorbike and used the engine and gearbox mounted on a part of the frame to power a water pump or generator,” Mr Crowley said. “Before Col Coughlan’s death in 1957, he passed on the remains of the Triumph Motorbike to his great friend in Clonakilty, Mick Murphy, who operated the Western Garage in the town. “Later, the remains of the famous motorbike were passed on to his son Conor. “The frame number on the motorbike tells us that it was made in late 1918, and the number on the engine tell us that it was made in early 1919, both were made for military issue.” About 60% of the motorcycle has survived. “It will be the 103rd anniversary of Michael Collins leaving Dublin on his final journey [on Wednesday]," Mr Crowley said. “The armoured car Sliabh na mBan, which is looked after by the Defence Forces in the Curragh, and the remains of the motorbike are the only vehicles from the Collins Convoy that have survived to the present day,” Mr Crowley said.