there is atune in ONEILLS which is in fact OldZipCoon,in the foreword.he O neill says[doubtless some over zealous champion of irish music will criticise the inclusion of number739 in this collection however convincing evidence of its Irish antecedents came to hand a few years ago in a roll of ageing manuscript belonging to the omahonys of Dunmanway],
pull the other one Mr ONeill.,it is an American minstrel tune,even if it was performed by an Irishman Dan Emmett.
ONeill ALSO SAYS if we have trespassed on our British neighbours,we hardly owe them an apology,as from their own admission they have availed themselves very liberally of our dance music for centuries,and it is quite probable that we are merely reclaiming our own heritage.
So judging from ONeills fairly catholic/ almost all embracing attitude to what was Irish it seems unlikely that he excluded polkas,because they werenot IRISH,more likely that his musicians didnt play them.
an old west cork fiddler said to me about 1995,of course we never used to play polkas that was Kerry music,we used to play for the pattern dances and tunes like the Blackbird for solo dancing.
So although Sliabh luchra polkas have exteneded beyond Sliabh Luchra,this might appear to be phenomenon of the last forty /50 years,since Comhaltas have been formed.
it is possible that O Neill did not have any kerry musicians,as sources for tunes.