Page 5 - O Mahony Society Newsletter NOV 2025_Neat

ruins was itself burnt down in 1922 (when in County Cork no fewer than
one sixth of all the 'big house' burnings in the whole of Ireland took place
during the War of Independence and the Civil War). The town survives as a
testament to so much of Irish history.
It has stunningly beautiful castle demesne and attractive colorful streets.
I remember that when I first visited Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s,
all the houses seemed to be painted in a uniformly dull beige, brown, or
sickly blue. That has certainly changed. Macroom now has a really striking
contemporary library and theatre, and a cracking café-cum-bookshop down
the main street. It is certainly worth a West Cork visit - even if you are not
going to an O Mahony festival.
The absolute highlight of my first-ever visit to an O Mahony Gathering was
the Rally in Garranes at the site of Rath Raithleann. This historic location of
the tribal centre of the Eoghanacht Raithleann, the dynastic tribal grouping
out of which both the O Mahony and the O Donoghue Raithleann clans
evolved, is something to be witnessed first-hand. With three high rings,
separated by deep troughs (imagine what it would have looked like when
the ditches were lower and the apex of the rings higher, and without the
current dense vegetation), it was an emotional event to stand in the same
location in which my mother's direct paternal-line ancestors had walked
some 1400 years ago!

I had come here with my partner Paul in 2012, when by triangulating a
19th century map alongside the Irish Ordnance Survey, we had somehow
found our way to the house of the ringfort’s owner, Sean Crowley, who
directed us to the entrance. But coming here with the pipes a’piping and
the O Mahony Society banner a’blazing was a different experience. I also
learnt how to put up bunting for the first time. It made me feel young and
old at the same time!
Sean Crowley (whom I had been pleased to meet again at the clan dinner
the night before) clearly recognizes his role as a custodian of this historic
site. In conserving this precious ringfort for decades when many have
been destroyed, at the clan rally he was presented with a wooden plaque
cut from the trunk of the tree planted in the 1970s and dedicated to the
Society’s founder, ‘Pope’ Eoin O Mahony. That tree fell as a result of a
storm a few years ago. Sean spoke a few words, as did Michelle O Mahony
O Driscoll, who like me was a first time attendee at a clan rally. I was
also honoured to be interviewed by Cisteoir Dermot O Mahoney to tell the
assembled clan folk about my O Mahony journey.

Highlights of the day included songs by folklore singer Padraig Mac
Carthaigh, and a detailed explanation from University College Cork
Archaeology Chair, Professor Emeritus Billy O Brien, about the digs
that had taken place since the 1930s at Rath Raithleann. Before the
Gathering, I had made sure I had read all the historical parts of the
wonderfully comprehensive and beautifully illustrated archaeological
monograph - “Garranes: An Early Medieval Royal Site in South-West
Ireland” - so I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet and ask
questions of Professor O Brien.

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