AN GAODHAL.
57
O'Curry's Lectures.
ON THE
MANUSCRIPT MATERIAL OF ANCIENT IRISH HIS¬
TORY.
LECTURE V.
[Delivered June 19, 1856.]
(Continued from page 36.)
And the best (or noblest) that were of that host
were Conor the son of Tighernan O'Ruairc, King
of the Ua Briuin and Conmaicne ; Cathal O'Flait¬
hbheartaigh [O'Flaherty], and Murchadh Finn O'¬
Ferghail; and Ruaidhri O'Floinn of the Wood;
and Flann Mac Oireachtaigh; and Donn og Mac
Oireachtaigh; and a great body of the O'Kelly's;
and Mac Dermot's three sons; and Dermot O'Fla¬
nagan and Cathal the son of Duarcan O’Heaghra
(O'Hara); and the two sons of of Tighernan O'Co¬
nor, and Giolla-na- Naomh O'Tadhg [O'Teige.
And numerous indeed were the warriors of Conn¬
acht there. And where the van of that host over¬
took the O'Reillys was at Soiltean-na-nGasan; and
they pursued them to Alt Tighe Mhic Cuirin.
Here the new recruits of the O'Reillys turned up¬
on the united hosts, and three times drove
them back. The main body of the hosts then came
up, but not until some of their people had been
killed, and among them Dermot O'Flannagan, and
Coicle O'Coicle [Cokely O'Cokely], and many
more.
"Both armies now marched to Ath-na-h-Eilti,
and to Doirin Cranncha, between Ath-na-Beithigh
and Bel an Bheallaigh, and Coill Eassa, and Coill
Airthir, upon Sliabh an Iarainn. Here the O'Reil¬
lys turned firmly, ardently, furiously, wildly, un¬
gevernably, against the son of Feidhlim O'Conor],
and all the men of Connacht who were with him,
to avenge upon them their wrongs and oppression
And each purty then urged their people against
each other, that is the Ui Bruin and the Connacht
forces. Then arose the Connacht men on the one
side of the battle, bold, expert, precipitate, ever
moving. And they drew up in a bright-flaming,
quick-handed phalanx, valiant, firm, united in
their ranks, under the command of their brave,
strong-armed, youthful prince, Aedh [Hugh, the
son of Feidhlim, son of Cathal the red-handed.
And, certainly, the son of the high king had in him
the fury of an inflamed chief, the valor of a cham¬
pion, and the bravery of a hero during that day.
"And a bloody, heroic, and triumphant battle
then was fought between them. Numbers were
killed and wounded on both sides. And Conor, the
son of Tighernan (O'Ruairc), king of Breifne, and
Murchadh Finn O'Ferghaill [Murogh Finn O'Fa¬
rell]. and Aedh [Hugh] O'Farell, and Maolruanaid
Mac Donnogh, with many more, were left wound-
on the field. And some of these died of accumu¬
lated wounds in their houses; among whom were
Morrogh Finn O'Farell; and Flann Mac Oireach¬
taigh was killed in the deadly strife of the battle,
with many others. And now what those who had
knowledge of this battle (who witnessed this bat¬
tle) say, is, that neither the warriors on either side
nor the champions of the great battle themselves,
could gaze at the face of the chief the chief
king; for there were two great royal, torch-like
broad eyes, flaming and rolling in his forehead; and
every one feared to address him at that time, for
he was beyond speaking distance in advance of his
hosts, going to attack the battalions of the UiBri¬
uin. And he raised his battle-cry of a chief king.
and his companion shout aloud in the middle of
the great battle; and he halted not from his career
until the force of the Ui Briuin utterly gave way.
"There were killed on this spot Cathal O'Reilly
King of Muintir Maoilmordha, and of the clan of
Aedh Finn, and his two sons along with him, name¬
ly, Donald Roe and Niall; and his brother Cuch¬
onnacht; and Cathal Dubh O'Reiliy's three sons,
Geoffry, Fergal, and Donnell. And Annadh, the
son of Donnell O'Reilly, was killed by Conor, the
son of Tighernan O'Ruairc, and the Blind O'Reil¬
ly, that is, Niall; and Tighernan Mac Brady, and
Giolla-Michael Mac Taichly, and Donogh O'Bib¬
saigh, Manus Mac Giolla-Duibh, and over three
score of the best of their people along with them.
And there were sixteen men of the O'Reilly fami¬
ly killed there also.
"This was the Battle of Magh Slecht, on the
brink of Ath Dearg (the Red Ford) at Alt na h-
Eillti (the Hill of the Doe) over Bealach na Beit¬
highe (the Road of the Birch)."
The precision with which the scene of this do¬
mestic battle (which took place in the modern co.
Cavan) is laid down in this article, is a matter of
singular interest, indeed of singular imporance, to
the Irish historian. Magh Slecht (that is, the plain
of Adoration, or Genuflexions), the situation and
bearings of which are so minutely set down here,
was no other than that same plain of Magh Slecht
in which stood Crom Cruach (called Ceann Cruach
in the Tripartite Life), the great Idol of Milesian
pagan worship, the Delphos of our Gadelian ances¬
tors, from the time of their first coming to Erinn
until the destruction of the idol by Saint Patrick,
in the early part of his apostleship among them.
The precise situation of this historical locality has
not been hitherto authoritatively ascertained by
our antiquarian investigators; but it is pretty
clear, that, if any man fairly acquainted with our
ancient native documents, and practised in the ex¬
mination of ruined monuments of antiquity, so
thickly scattered over the face of our country, —
if, I say, such a man, with this article in his hand,
and an abstract from the Life St. Patrick, should
go to any of the points here described in the route
of the belligerent forces, he will have but little di¬
fficulty in reaching the actual scene of the battle,
and will there stand, with certainty, in the verita¬
ble Magh Slecht; nay, even may, perhaps, disco¬
ver the identical Crom Cruach himself, with his
twelve buried satellites, where they fell and were
interred when struck down by St. Patrick with his
crozier, the Bachall losa, or Sacred Staff of Jesus.
Much could be said on the value of these and of
others of our local and independent chronicles,
concerning the vast amount they contain of cumu¬
lative additions to what is recorded in other books
and of minor details, such as could never be found
in any general compilation of national annals.
Space will not, however, in lectures such as these
permit us to dwell longer on the subject at pres¬
ent, and we shall, therefore, pass on at once from
the Annals of Loch Ce to the consideration of
those commonly called by the name of the Annals
of Connacht.
The only copies of the chronicle which bears
this title now known to exist in Ireland are, a
large folio paper copy, in two volumes, in the lib¬
rary of T.C.D. (class H. 1. 1. and H. 1. 2,); and
