To Philippa, Thanks for the words to the song--

Eoghan Ruadh Ó Súilleabháin is the same as Owen Roe O'Sullivan, who was lived in Kerry, but a century earlier than 1870; he is considered by most Irish commentators to be a great poet, as in the aisling songs; he was a country schoolmaster who read and wrote Latin, Greek, English and Irish, but he was also a famous womanizer and drinker of County Kerry. He is still a folk hero there. The song sounds just like something he'd write.