Not a cabin had a soul in, all flocked to view the goaling,

And unremitted bowling of Kilmoney's chivalry; Undaunted sons of Beaver,* no hearts were ever braver

Upon your bounding wave, or the plains of Onnabuoy.

Five times our men were turned, by rivals whom they spurned,

With shame their cheeks they burned, but the ball was

in the field;

Then, with redoubled spirit, they shewed the strength and merit

That they did all inherit, and made their foes to yield ; While Barrymore they doubted, and Muskerry they shouted,

When both of them were routed on the plains of Onnabuoy.

The south by mearings + bounded, at first our boys confounded,

Upon the wind they rounded, then tried their utmost speed;

* An old name for Carrigaline, and still appended to it as an alias in law writings.

+ Certain boundaries within which the game is to be decided are laid down at goal; these depend, of course, upon the number of players, and the character of the country. A stream, a road, a wall, or any other obvious line of demarkation, is sufficient; but when such is not readily found, sticks called " mearings," or "mearing twigs," are placed in the ground. It is the Saxon word Maɲe, which is used by Spenser

"And Hygate made the meare thereof by west."-Fairy Queen, III. ix. 46.

a proof, among many others which may be adduced, that several obsolete English words are still current in Ireland.

Against both hill and weather, they all bore on together, And pucked the well-sewed leather; 'twas wonderful,

indeed :

The north was then contested, on that their last hope rested,

But soon they were down-crested on the plains of Onnabuoy.

Two baronies of boasters, one district of our coasters,* Have made look foolish toasters, and their former fame

undone ;

For lost is now the honour of their leader, Mister Conner,
Whose mother has upon her all my pity for her son.
In Cope's field ends the story of their goaling and his
glory,

And he'll travel far before he will play by the Onnabuoy.

Success to young O'Daly, who led us on so gaily,

He is our hero really—shout for Kilmoney's pride! And here is for his brothers, and three times for all others, True sons of worthy mothers, who were upon our side; Their names are here recorded, may they be all rewarded, For never king nor lord did so much for the Onnabuoy.

First I'll extol stout Saunders, and after him brave Landers, They behaved like great commanders; and next I'll aggrandise

O'Toomey and Mulcahy; two Carties, and Bat Fahey; O'Callaghan of Rahey, and also Thomas Wise;

* That is, dwellers on the coast. A large portion of the barony of Kerricurihy is bounded by the sea.

O'Flinn, with head like carrot, De Cogans, Jack and

Garret ;

And Jordan, Welsh, and Barrett, on the plains of

Onnabuoy.

Now Shanbally give over

Coolmore lie up in clover,

And Ballybricken's rover, the leader of them all; Loughbeg and Barnahaley, Ring and Seamount by O'Daly

Were beaten till quite mealy, and to tatters like the ball; Here's to our boys so clever, their equals they saw never, Success to them for ever on the plains of Onnabuoy.

THE CARRIGALINE GOALERS DEFEATED.

A reply to the preceding song, on the defeat of the aforesaid "Victorious goalers of Carrigaline and Kilmoney," by a party belonging to Tracton, a neighbouring district; which match appears to have been played in the ensuing spring. The rival poets, although they have carefully noticed the month and even the precise day when these memorable struggles took place, are alike silent as to the year, no doubt presuming that the date of such important occurrences could not be forgotten.

The single rhyme used throughout the entire song cannot escape the reader's notice. It is evident from the last line, which in itself contains, four rhymes similar to the one used throughout the song, that this monotonous jingle, which, to the Editor's ear, does not sound offensively, has been an object of considerable ambition to the author,

and was apparently done with no other view than to exhibit a command over the rhyme.

The song is copied from a broadside without the name of the printer, procured by the Editor at Cork in 1829. A much inferior version is also in his possession on a broadside "printed by Haly, Hanover Street, Cork," embellished with a rude woodcut of a horseman leaping a three-barred gate, and entitled "The New Joy of Tracton, by a Mountain Poet."

Air-"The Roving Journeyman.”

For ages hold on record Kinalea with ecstasy
The triumph of our goalers at the top of Boherbuoy ;
By utterly defeating with the greatest bravery

The goalers that were famed upon the banks of Onnabuoy.

On the second day of April, to will conformably,
The supple Tracton goalers put an end to all their spree;
With pucking round the ball did bound, and such activity
Was never seen upon the green fields of the Onnabuoy.

As heroes gay, were they each day, sung through the whole country;

And on the public papers named, out of curosity.†

on

"In the papers," is the common expression in England; the papers," in Ireland. "Any news on the paper?" is obviously more correct phraseology than "in the paper."

"How that

+ That is, as a remarkable matter; anglicé, curiosity. fellow murders the king's English!" remarked a brother barrister to Curran upon hearing an illiterate witness pronounce this word as above written, and as it is vulgarly pronounced in Ireland. “I cannot agree with you," said Curran, "knocking an I out is neither murder nor manslaughter."

Say, will Kilmoney, my boys, now own ye, since ended is

your glee;

For you were beaten,* early and late on the plains of

Onnabuoy ?

Wherever self-persuasion is of gaining the victory,
Then fortune never favours it, in high or low degree;
Ballygarven, Douglas, Ring, and Seamount, had to see
How Kinalea could clear the way on the plains of
Onnabuoy.

A fortune-teller came by chance and said repeatedly
That Tracton's skill, on plain or hill, was as eight to
thirty-three;

But in spite of all his fairy call and his necromancery,
He was too bold in what he told on the plains of
Onnabuoy.

And of a leader boasting, they gave publicity

To a gentleman of high renown, living independently
A star of honour, the great O'Connor, shining in dignity
At Ballybricken, no glory seeking from goaling by the
Onnabuoy.

A gentleman descended from kings of high degree,

A honey-scented blosom, and a sprig of purity;

A stately tree that day was he, the pride of his country; Long may he flourish, and Erin nourish such saplings by the Onnabuoy.

* Pronounced in Ireland, baiten.