Chief commander in mad scramble before Irish guerrillas left (7)
I believe the answer is:
admiral
'chief commander' is the definition.
'admiral' can be an answer for 'commander' (thesaurus). I'm not sure about the 'chief' bit.
'mad scramble before irish guerrillas left' is the wordplay.
'scramble' indicates an anagram.
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'irish' becomes 'IR' (abbreviation).
'guerrillas left' becomes 'al' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'mad' anagrammed gives 'adm'.
'adm'+'ir'+'al'='ADMIRAL'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for admiral that I've seen before include "foremost in fleet" , "Powerful sailor" , "Highest ranking naval officer" , "Navy chief" , "Commander of the fleet or butterfly" .)