Rapparee,

I greatly appreciate recommendations. I have the Colum. Excellent resource. It looks like the Lover and Croker is a combining of Croker's Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland and Lover's Legends and Stories of Ireland, first and second series. I'll definitely get to those eventually. I'm actually currently reading Lover's Handy Andy - great fun. I've considered the Squire, but it seems to be a reference work about the myths and legends, and I'd prefer to read the myths and legends themselves. I may use it as a starting point, though.

I definitely want to go beyond the most well-known stories.

Right. I do love those words, but I understand they can be overused to create an absurd caricature of language usage.

For those who are interested, links to the works on archive.org:

A Treasury of Irish Folklore

Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland

Legends and Stories of Ireland:

first series

second series

And here's a link to a page with links to lots of books online along these lines:

Folklore, Folktales, and Fairy Tales from Ireland

Oh, and I do recommend Handy Andy - "with twenty-four illustrations by the author" - I love illustrations!