My daughter and grandsons live in Athenry so I am frequently there -I still don't like this song however; the one Martin mentions is much more within the traditional idiom.

I have managed to track down the author of the original posting in the harp-list and have indicated my scepticism. He insists that he saw the song in some kind of folio song collection, printed by Devlin of Dublin and that the book is owned by the family of someone he used to play music with. Hoewever he has no more than the copy of the words he made.

He was a little testy at being questioned about this and it would not be possible to elicit any more. However, I am in no way convinced, I'll be in Dublin on three occasions in the next two weeks and any references to Devlin will be fully checked - starting with the Street Directories and then with ER McClintock Dix's bibliographies - this is my field - and I'm almost prepared to wager that I'll find nothing to support this contention.