O’Reilly History

O’Reilly History

Dates may not support this Myles as “The Slasher.”

https://secretireland.ie/myles-the-slasher-o-reilly-ireland-s-braveheart/

(Raghailligh) The name O'Reilly comes from the Irish chieftain Ragheallach (rag means a race, and ceallach means gregarious) who lived at the time of Brian Boru and, like him, was killed at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. He was a great-grandson of Maomordha, a descendant of the O'Conors, kings of Connacht. At one time they ruled the network of lakes around Lough Erne, where their chieftains were inaugurated and they had their fortress at Lough Oughter. As they multiplied, they spread out to County Longford, Meath, and Cork.

Their chief was named "Breffny O Reilly". When they were driven from their lands in the seventeenth century, their aristocratic genealogies assured them of seniority in the armies of Europe, and their name took on a variety of spellings including Orely in Spain and Oreille in France. At one time there were no less than thirty-three O Reilly officers under the command of an O Reilly.

They commanded armies in Spain and South America, where they also governed. There are still streets bearing their name in several Spanish cities, and also in Havana. In fact, descendants of theirs can still be found in Cuba.

The O Reillys in the Middle Ages were good churchmen and built abbeys and held many bishoprics. They also boasted relationship to Saint Oliver Plunkett.

In the nineteenth century some were poets and many were politicians, often punished for their patriotism by transportation to Australia, where, they contributed to local administration and to politics.

In Ireland, they became successfully involved in the native whiskey distilling business.

Today, it is one of the most numerous names in Ireland, especially so in Co. Cavan and Meath.

Co. Cavan is a particular stonghold of the name. Myles "The Slasher" O'Reilly was the heroic defender of the bridge at Finea in Co. Cavan in 1646 where he and a force of one hundred held out against a 1,000-strong Cromwellian army. O'Reilly is commemorated by a cross in the main street of Finea, a pretty village on the banks of the River Inny. One County Cavan town in the heart of O'Reilly county was immortalized in Percy French's ballad, "Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff".