Big Tim writes:
"Although O'Lochlainn's version contains three factual errors it's thanks to him that the song and the memory of four fanatical but very brave victims of Irish history have survived. "

I'm not entirely sure that I agree with you there. The song was known - and the incident to which it refers - throughout the North of Ireland. I often heard it sung in Belfast during the Fifties, long before either of Ó Lochlainn's two great books were available. In the area of Stranorlar/Ballybofey it is still known. However, you'll never hear it sung in public, only in private and even then not in "mixed company"; and by that I do not mean Catholic/Protestant !! The Civil War still casts a long shadow.
Annraoi