The melody was indeed written by my dear friend Chris Andreeti who sadly died a few years ago. He was an English singer with a wonderful sonorous voice . How he came to write the melody was that he was busking in Roscommon and a very drunken fella came up to him and asked if he knew Ballyroan which was his favourite song Chris replied that he didn't and the bloke went off only to return a while later with the lyrics. Chris took them home and o be the next couple of weeks wrote the air. Sometime later he was singing it on the street and the same guy turned up drunk again and berated Chris that he was singing his favourite song and that he was singing the wrong back in time Mi have a recording of Chris singing this and Delorous Keane's version pale into insignificance . I'd be happy to let anybody who wanted to hear his version get a copy
Martin