I was in this area last week and my interest in the song was rekindled. According to the Oxford Companion to Irish History, "bonaght" (not "bonnaght")is the anglicization of the Irish word "buannacht". It "signified from the 12th to the 16th centuries the billeting of mercenary soldiers on civilians...first found in Irish texts of the 11th and 12th centuries with the meaning 'hired soldiers'. English writers in the Tudor period often use the abstract 'bonaght' to denote the mercenaries themselves, rather than the imposition".

The song was first pubd. in the "Nation" on 28 January 1843 (Oxford Companion to Irish Literature). The music was written by Joseph Haliday, of Carrick-on-Suir, Tipp., died 1846 ("The O'Donnells of Tir Chonaill: a concise history of the O'Donnell clan", by Vincent O'Donnell,1989).

Anyone got any info on "Saimer"? There is a small island on the River Erne at Ballyshannon named - Inish [island]"Samer" - and possibly the whole town used to be called that. At present, there is a shopping centre in Ballyshannon called "Samer"! A local man told me it was the name of Red Hugh O'Donnell's dog!