Well Cromwell did say "To hell or to Connaught"
I always thought that to mean that he offered to kill them if they didn't evacuate their homes forthwith.

But by far the greatest disappointment about the lack of fluency of your average person from the south of Ireland is the way it was taught in the schools. Pupils were not encouraged to learn it, they were forced. Which developed in a lot of people an inherent dislike of the language.
Thank God that situation is now turning, and once again the Irish language will be spoken, and will be enjoyed to be spoken, by an ever increasing number of people. For it truly is a beautiful language.

It is unfortunate that I have not people around me who speak the language much. I hear 'Text Book' Irish quite a lot, but I did learn my Irish in the middle of the Donegal Gaeltacht, and am more used to the spoken word as opposed to the written. I also learned it at school. Ironically, in the north of Ireland. Where no such compulsion to learn the language existed.

But as to why there are so many versions? Because traditional music is not based on any so clear cut rules.
Why do different parts of the country have different dialects?
Why, in those dialects, are there 'sub-dialects'? Why does the red cow give white milk, when it only eats green grass?

B.

And I think the song is 'The Monto' by The Dubliners