once the rising was over gibney remained active with the nationalist movement and joined cumann na mban in september of that year (1916). she had met her fiancé dick mckee, who was a commandant of the irish volunteers and later the irish republican army in dublin, in 1915. during the war of independence she operated as a courier for the i.r.a., carrying messages, hiding and moving weapons, and hid victor murphy, a jacob's factory garrison member who had avoided arrest with the others. following the killing of about 13 british agents in dublin, mckee and two others were arrested, interrogated, tortured and then was shot dead on bloody sunday on 21 november 1920 during the war of independence.