I have it on an old 78 c1910 and there it's credited to the ubiquitous Harry Clifton, although I have most of Clifton's sheet music output and I don't remember seeing it referred to there. If it is Clifton, who also popularised Rocky Road to Dublin and put the tune to it, among many others he wrote now in the folk repertoire, it must be before 1872 which is when he died. I too have seen it attributed to MacColl, but I've seen all sorts attributed to MacColl, even that well-known Irish traditional song The Shawls of Erin'!