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Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh (IPA:[ˈcaɾˠ(ə)wəl̪ˠoːˈd̪ˠaːlˠiː];fl. 1630), sometimes spelt in English asCarroll Oge O'Daly,[1][2] was a 17th-centuryIrish languagepoet andharpist, who composed the song "Eileanóir a Rún".
Cearbhall (Carroll) was a common name amongst people of theÓ Dálaigh (O'Daly,Daly) surname, and more than one poet of that surname bore the name. The Cearbhall Óg who composed "Eileanóir a Rún" was from Pallas, nearGorey in CountyWexford. The Eileanóir of the poem was the daughter of Sir Morgan Kavanagh of Clonmullen inCounty Wexford. Infolklore, Cearbhall is presented as a womaniser and trickster similar to theGobán Saor.[3]
Irish folklore recounts how Eileanóir Chaomhánach (Eleanor Kavanagh) eloped with Cearbhall (Carroll) the day she was about to marry another man. Cearbhall arrived at the wedding to play music at the wedding feast, and fell in love with the bride. He composed the song Eileanoir a Rún to woo the bride.
Mo ghrá thú, den chéad fhéachaint, Eileanóir a Rún
Is ort a bhím ag smaoineadh, tráth a mbím i mo shuan
A ghrá den tsaol, is a chéad searc, is tú is deise ná ban Éireann.
From the moment I saw you I loved you, Eileanóir my love
It is of you I think when I’m resting
O love of life and my first love, you are fairer than all the women of Ireland.
Another song, in the style of the crosántacht,Seachrán Chearbhaill, is ascribed to Cearbhall Óg. Both, a poem by theDominican priest Pádraigín Haicéad. addressed to Cearbhall, and Cearbhall's poem in response, survive in a 17th-century manuscript. The storyMac na Míchomhairle (The Son of Poor Council) has been ascribed to him infolklore, but current scholarship casts doubt on this ascription.
A version of Seachrán Chearbhaill by Joe ÉinniuSeosamh Ó hÉanaí is available on a CD with the bookJoe Éinniu: Nár fhágha mé Bás Choíche byLiam Mac Con Iomaire (Cló Iarchonnachta 2007); and a later recording of an earlier version of the song on Peadar Ó Ceannabháin's CD,Mo Chuid den tSaol (Cló-Iarchonnachta). There are many commercially available recordings of Eleanór a Rún.
Both songs are recognised as part of the traditional Irish language repertoire of unaccompanied ballads known as 'sean-nós song'.
Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh appears as an historical character inDarach Ó Scolaí's Irish language novelAn Cléireach, as a soldier in the Royalist army in 1650 and in the SpanishNetherlands as late as 1662.
