Donogh Mor O'Daly

Donogh Mor O'Daly (the Irish form of the name is Donnchadh Mór Ó Dálaigh) was a celebrated Irish poet who died in 1244. Mor is the Irish word for "great".

The O'Dalys considered themselves descendants of a sixth or ninth century poet called Dalach. The sept were renowned poets in medieval Ireland, Hardiman considered that there were 30 named O'Daly poets of note writing between 1139 and 1680AD. Donogh is known to have written about 30 poems. Authorities O'Reilly and O'Curry considered that he was Abbot of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, [CathEncy|wstitle=Donogh Mór O'Daly] Ireland where he is believed to have been buried. He was styled the 'Irish Ovid' due to the quality of his verse. The annals of Clonmacnois descbribe him as "Chief in Ireland for poetry". The Annals of the Four Masters record his death thus : '1245, Cearbhall buidhe mac taidgh mic aonghusa findabrach ui Dhalaigh decc, i.e. 'Carroll Boy, son of Teige, the son of Aengus Finnabrach O'Daly died). O'Donovan in a note to the 'Annals of the Four Masters' states that 'according to tradition preserved in the north of the County Clare he was the head of the O'Dalys of Finnyvara in the north of Burrin where they still point out the site of his house and his monument'. The O'Dalys of Finnyvara were believed to be the hereditary poets to the O'Loughlins of Burren.

Some of his poems were listed in "The History of the O'Dalys" by Edmund Emmet O'Daly, published in 1937 by the Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor Company of New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Donogh was the second of six brothers, one of whom was Muiredach Albanach, also a poet. Donogh was head of the O'Dalys of Finnyvara (or Finavara) in the Burren region of County Clare, Ireland. Today a hexagonal bick-built columnar monument stands outside Finavara on the coast by Pouldoody Bay as a monument to him, opposite the supposed ruined poetry school of the O'Dalys. For a more detailed account of the pillar see 'Autumnal Rambles about New Quay, County Clare' in Clare County Library, Ireland (T.L. Cooke, 1863) which describes the state of the pillar (described as 'not modern') as at the mid-1800s. Cooke also surmises in the article that one of the local O'Dalys was a 'Brehon' or lawyer and occupied a rock seat nearby termed the 'Brehon's Chair' used for open air courts in ancient times and that they may be buried in the mound below the monument.

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