On January 21, 1919, the same day the First Dáil met, IRA volunteers in Tipperary, led by Dan Breen and Seán Treacy, ambushed and killed two Royal Irish Constabulary officers at Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary. The ambush, which was not authorized by the Dáil, is widely considered the first act of the Irish War of Independence. The Soloheadbeg ambush marked the beginning of a guerrilla war that would last until 1921.

The Soloheadbeg ambush is a subject of republican poetry, with ballads celebrating the courage of the IRA volunteers. The ambush is often seen as the spark that ignited the War of Independence, and its memory is invoked in poetry as a symbol of Irish resistance. The ambush's legacy is a recurring theme in the poetry of the independence movement, which often romanticizes the guerrilla warfare of the period.