Donogh Mor O'Daly

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Donogh Mor O'Daly (the Irish form of the surname is O Dalaigh, meaning descendant of Dalach) was a celebrated Irish poet who died in 1244 (Mor is the Irish word for 'great').

The O'Dalys considered themselves descendants of a sixth or ninth century poet called Dalach. The sept were renowned poets in medieval Ireland, Hardiman considered that there were 30 named O'Daly poets of note writing between 1139 and 1680AD. Donogh is known to have written about 30 poems. Authorities O'Reilly and O'Curry considered that he was Abbot of Boyle Abbey, County Roscommon, Ireland where he is believed to have been buried. He was styled the 'Irish Ovid' due to the quality of his verse. Some of his poems were listed in 'The History of the O'Dalys' by Edmund Emmet O'Daly, published in 1937 by the Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor Company of New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Donogh was the second of six brothers, one of whom was Muiredach Albanach, also a poet. Donogh was head of the O'Dalys of Finnyvara (or Finavara) in the Burren, County Down region of County Clare, Ireland. Today a hexagonal columnar monument about 1 metre high stands outside Finavara on the coast as a monument to him, opposite the ruined poetry school of the O'Dalys.