after them "Kinelmeaky," now
the barony of that name) between the Cineal Laoghaire in the west and the rest of the
Cineal nAeda (later Cineal Aodha), under that name, in the east.
The Cineal Aodha or O’Callaghans (O Ceallachain) later claimed
descent from an Aodh (older "Aed") in the pedigree of the Eoghanacht of Cashel,
and claimed Ceaillachan of Cashel himself as their ancestor, though admitting that they
took their name from a namesake of his some generations later. They gave their clan-name
to their original territory, now the barony of Kinalea in the south of County Cork between
Cork and Kinsale, from which they were driven soon after the Anglo-Norman invasion by
Fitzstephen and de Cogan. Afterwards they settled on the banks of the Blackwater, west of
Mallow, where they became chiefs of a territory called after them "Pobul Ui
Cheallachain." They held this land down to the Cromwellian confiscations of the
mid-seventeenth century, after which the head of the family was transplanted to Clare.
From the eighth century onwards the main representatives of the ruling
Ui Eachac Mumhan were the Ui Loegairi and the Cineal mBecce. Their chief clan-families in
later times were: Of the former, the Cineal Laoghaire, alias Clann tSealbhaigh, or
O’Donoghues (O Donnchadha) of Desmond (South Munster), and of the latter, the Cineal
mBeice or O’Mahonys (O Mathghamhna). The O’Donoghues take their name from their
ancestor Donnchadha, son of Domhnall, son of Dubhdabhoireann, King of Munster. Domhnall
commanded, conjointly with Cian, ancestor of the O’Mahonys the forces of Desmond at
the battle of Clontarf in 1014, which culminated the Viking wars. The descendants of
Domhnall assumed for a time the surname of O Domhnaill, but afterwards took their name
from Donchadha. They take their clan-name of Cineal Laoghaire from Laoghaire, fourth in
descent from their ancestor Corc. The original patrimony of the O’Donoghues lay in
west Cork, but in the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion in the late twelfth century they
were driven westward from their territory by the MacCarthys and O’Mahonys and settled
in Kerry, where they became lords of all the country around the Lakes of Killarney, to
which they gave the name of Eoghanacht Ui Dhonnchadha (Onacht O’Donoghue). The
O’Donoghues divided early into two great branches: The O’Donoghues of Loch Lein,
the head of which was known as O’Donoghue More (The great O’Donoghue) and
resided at Ross Castle at the southern end of the Lakes (the castle was built by them in
the fifteenth century), and the O’Donoghues of Glenflesk, the head of which was known
as O’Donoghue of the Glen. The estates of O’Donoghue More were confiscated in
the reign of Elizabeth, but O’Donoghue of the Glen retained considerable property
into modern times, and is now known as "The O’Donoghue." The Moriartys (O
Muircheartaigh) are an early branch of the O’Donoghues, and were originally chiefs of
the territory lying at the end of Dingle Bay around Castlemaine in County Kerry. Although
in 1210 their then chief, by
