The distinctive thing about the "Stingo"/"Oil of Barley" tune is that it *isn't* "flowing". It's aggressively syncopated, in a way that has no parallel in any traditional Irish tune I can think of (though there are plenty of Scottish examples, it was one of the markers of a "Scotch tune" long before the strathspey existed).

"sciencegeek"'s comment sounds to me like yet another example of "I like it so it can't be English".