Murray, Thanks for the answer. I agree Cahill's style isn't the most imaginative and I don't think it would work in a lot of situations. I guess it just seems to me to work with Martin Hayes' fiddle, although on the studio recordings it's very subdued so maybe that's the difference. BTW I tend to use a combination of flatpicking and fingerpicking (flatpick + two fingers) to get some variation so I can't say I disagree with you on that.

Thanks again,