List of Irish county nicknames

This is a list of nicknames for the traditional counties of Ireland and their inhabitants. The nicknames are mainly used with reference to the county's representative team in gaelic games organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). A few of the names are quite old and well-known; most are recent coinages mainly used by journalists.[1][2] Some refer specifically to the Gaelic games county colours.

Many counties have multiple nicknames — for example, Kildare may be called "the short grass county" or "the thoroughbred county"[3] — while some counties have separate nicknames for the county and people: for example Wexford is often called the Model county,[3] and Wexford people are called "yellowbellies".[3] A few nicknames are shared: any Connacht county playing a team from elsewhere may be dubbed "the Westerners"; London GAA or New York GAA may be called "the Exiles"; Westmeath,[2][3] Fermanagh,[4] and Cavan[5] have each been called "the Slag county".

List

County (GAA link) Nickname Origins and notes
Antrim (GAA) The Glensmen[2][3][6] From the Glens of Antrim[2]
Antrim (GAA) The Saffrons[3] From the county colours
Armagh (GAA) The Orchard County[2][3][7] The rich fruit growing country to the north-east of the city of Armagh is known as the "Orchard of Ireland".[2][8] (The local electoral district in that part of Armagh is called "The Orchard".)[9])
Armagh (GAA) The Cathedral County[2][3][10] The Primates of All Ireland's seats (both Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic) are in the city of Armagh[2]
Carlow (GAA) The Dolmen County[3] Brownshill Dolmen is near Carlow town[2]
Carlow (GAA) The Barrowsiders[11] River Barrow[2]
Carlow (GAA) The Fighting Cocks[3] Carlow was famous for cock fighting in the early nineteenth century.[12] "The Fighting Cocks" is also a crossroads on the N80 road[13] which names a district between Tullow and Nurney[14] and its GAA club[15]
Carlow (GAA) The Scallion Eaters[3] In the early nineteenth century, most of the onions sold in Leinster were grown near Carlow town[16]
Cavan (GAA) The Breffni[2][3][17] Mediaeval Kingdom of Breifne, centred on Cavan[2]
Cavan (GAA) The Lake County[5] Lakes include Loughs Gowna, Oughter, Ramor, and Sheelin
Clare (GAA) The Banner County[2][3][18][19] Either the banners captured by Clare's Dragoons at the Battle of Ramillies; or the banner of "Catholic emancipation" raised by Daniel O'Connell's victory in an 1828 by-election for County Clare that led to the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.[20][1][2]
Cork (GAA) The Rebel County[3][18][21][22] Originally from Cork city's support for pretender Perkin Warbeck in 1495; reinforced by Cork's prominence in the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) and the Irish Civil War (1922–23)[21][23]
Cork (GAA) The Leesiders[24] River Lee
Cork (GAA) The Donkey Aters (Eaters)[2] Applied in particular to the vicinity of Skibbereen in west Cork, where people resorted to eating donkeys during the Great Famine[25]
Donegal (GAA) The Hills[3] The Derryveagh Mountains and Bluestack Mountains are called The Hills of Donegal in many folk songs
Donegal (GAA) Tír Chonaill or Tyrconnell[3] Mediaeval kingdom, often used in place of the official Dún na nGall as the Irish name for the county
Donegal (GAA) The O'Donnell County[2][3][26] Mediaeval lords[2]
Donegal (GAA) The Herring Gutters[2][3] The fishing industry is important, especially in Killybegs[2]
Donegal (GAA) The Forgotten County[2] Donegal is almost cut off from the rest of the Republic of Ireland by Northern Ireland[2]
Down (GAA) The Mourne County;[3] The Mournemen[27] Mourne Mountains. In GAA contexts, "Mournemen" is often applied specifically to the football rather than the hurling team;[27] though not always[28]
Down (GAA) The Ardsmen[27][29][30] Applied specifically to the hurling team.[27] From the Ards peninsula, stronghold of hurling in the county[27]
Dublin (GAA) The Dubs[31] Clipped form of "Dubliners"
Dublin (GAA) The Liffeysiders[3] River Liffey
Dublin (GAA) The Jackeens[3] Pejorative term for Dubliners; contrasted with culchies
Dublin (GAA) The Jacks[32][33][34] Reclaimed version of Jackeen
Dublin (GAA) The Metropolitans Dublin city is the metropolis, i.e. the capital city
Dublin (GAA) The Pale The Pale was the region around Dublin subject to English control in the 14th and 15th centuries
Dublin (GAA) The Big Smoke A reference to severe smog problems that endured until the late 1980s
Fermanagh (GAA) The Maguire County[2][3] Mediaeval lords (cf. Baron Maguire from the 17th Century)[2]
Fermanagh (GAA) The Lakeland County;[2][3] the Lake County[4][35] Lough Erne dominates the topography[2]
Fermanagh (GAA) The Erne County;[2] the Ernesiders[36] River Erne and Lough Erne[2]
Galway (GAA) The Tribesmen[2][3] Galway city is "the city of the tribes", those being fourteen historically prominent families
Galway (GAA) The Herring Chokers[2] The fishing industry[2]
Kerry (GAA) The Kingdom[3] John Philpot Curran, MP, magistrate, and wit, said in the Irish House of Commons on 23 January 1787: "The low and contemptible state of your magistracy is the cause of much evil, particularly in the Kingdom of Kerry. I say Kingdom, for it seems absolutely not a part of the same country"[37]
Kildare (GAA) The Lilywhites[2][3][38] From the county colours[2][38]
Kildare (GAA) The Short Grass County[2][3][39] The open pastureland of the Curragh. Attested from at least 1897[40]
Kildare (GAA) The Thoroughbred County[2][3][41][42] Centre for breeding and training of racehorses. A marketing slogan, introduced in November 1999[41][42]
Kilkenny (GAA) The Cats[3][43] Kilkenny cats are proverbially tenacious fighters[43]
Kilkenny (GAA) The Marble County[2][3] Kilkenny city was "the Marble City" because of nearby marble quarrying,[1] featured in its buildings and pavements[2]
Kilkenny (GAA) The Noresiders[3] River Nore
Kilkenny (GAA) Wet-the-guns[44]
Laois (GAA) The O'Moore County[3][45] Mediaeval lords (cf. Rory O'Moore in the 17th Century)
Laois (GAA) "Poor and proud"[46][47] Disused.[46]
Leitrim (GAA) "Lovely Leitrim"[48][49] From the song "Lovely Leitrim", written in by Phil Fitzpatrick, an NYPD member from Mohill killed in 1947.[50] It was a 1966 Number One single for Larry Cunningham.[51] Another "Lovely Leitrim" was written in Chicago in 1956 by Jim Donnelly of Cloone and Tom Masterson of Carrigallen[52]
Leitrim (GAA) The Ridge County[2][3][53] Leitrim town's name is anglicised from the Irish Liath Druim, "grey ridge"; Carrick-on-Shannon is Cora Droma Ruisc - "the weir of the marshy ridge". The method of growing potatoes in ridges separated by ditches was especially common in Leitrim[2]
Leitrim (GAA) The Wild Rose County[2][3] The Wild Rose of Lough Gill, an 1883 historical romance by Patrick G. Smyth set largely in North Leitrim.[1] Wild roses grow profusely in northwest Leitrim[2]
Leitrim (GAA) The O'Rourke County[3] Mediaeval lords of western Breifne
Limerick (GAA) The Shannonsiders[3][54] River Shannon
Limerick (GAA) The Treaty County[3] Limerick city is "the Treaty city" after the Treaty of Limerick in 1691
Limerick (GAA) buttermilks[44]
Londonderry (Derry GAA)[fn 1] The Oak-leaf County[2][3][26] From the leaf on the county coat of arms and on the crest of Derry GAA; Derry is an anglicisation of Irish language Doire "oak-grove"[2]
Longford (GAA) The Slashers[3] Longford Slashers is a GAA club in Longford town. "Slasher" in the sense "man of valour" comes from Myles 'the Slasher' O'Reilly, killed defending the bridge of Finnea in 1644.[1][55] "Slasher" became a pejorative for Longford people, notably former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds, with a sense akin to culchie. Still more recently it has been reclaimed by the locals
Longford (GAA) The O'Farrell County[26] Medieval O'Farrell family
Louth (GAA) The Wee County[3] The smallest county in Ireland
Mayo (GAA) The Yew County[56][57] The name Mayo is anglicised from the Irish Maigh Eo, "plain of the yew", the site of a mediaeval abbey[56]
Mayo (GAA) The Heather County[2][3] Heather is common in western Mayo[2]
Mayo (GAA) The Maritime County[3] The long Atlantic coastline[2]
Mayo (GAA) "Mayo, God help us!"[44][58] Mayo was the county worst affected by the Great Famine[59]
Mayo (GAA) "The Green above the Red"[3] From the county colours (green shoulders, red breast); themselves inspired by "The Green Above The Red", a rebel song to the tune of "Irish Molly O" with lyrics by Thomas Osborne Davis:[60]

Full often when our fathers saw the Red above the Green,
They rose in rude but fierce array, with sabre, pike and skian,
And over many a noble town, and many a field of dead,
They proudly set the Irish Green above the English Red

Meath (GAA) The Royal county[3][61][62] The Hill of Tara, seat of the legendary High Kings of Ireland, is in Meath[61]
Monaghan (GAA) The Farney[2][3][63] Mediaeval territory of Farney, later the Barony of Farney in south County Monaghan.[2] A 2004 article suggests the nickname dates from the prominence of Farneymen in the early years of Monaghan GAA.[64]
Monaghan (GAA) The Oriel County Airgíalla, anglicised Oriel, a medieval kingdom with territory overlapping the modern county; north Monaghan people prefer the nickname "Oriel" to "Farney".[64][65]
Monaghan (GAA) The Drumlin County[2][3] Drumlin fields dominate the local topography[2]
Offaly (GAA) The Faithful County[3][19] In 1953, Andy Croke wrote, 'If ever Offaly earns a name like "Rebel" Cork or "Premier" Tipperary, I believe it will be the "Faithful" County, for nowhere else are hurlers and football more intent on sticking to their colours, which incidentally are green, white and gold.'[66] Also attributed to Bob O'Keeffe, GAA president from 1935–38,[19][67] possibly because the county is strong in both hurling and gaelic football.[1][19] The motto on the county council's current coat of arms is Esto Fidelis "Be You Faithful"[68]
Offaly (GAA) The Biffos Acronym for "Big ignorant fucker from Offaly"[69] Attested in the early 1990s in the United States[70][71]
Roscommon (GAA) The Rossies[3]
Roscommon (GAA) The Sheepstealers[3][72] A common cause of transportation to Australia, the crime was common in Roscommon as it was easy to cross the River Shannon to raid Westmeath and Longford[2]
Sligo (GAA) The Yeats County[2][3] Childhood and spiritual home of William Butler Yeats[2]
Sligo (GAA) The Herring Pickers[2][3] The fishing industry[2]
Sligo (GAA) Land of Heart's Desire Tourist branding from Yeats's 1894 play The Land of Heart's Desire, set in the barony of Kilmacowen.[73]
Sligo (GAA) The Zebras[3] From the county colours (black-and-white)
Sligo (GAA) The Magpies[3] From the county colours (black-and-white)
Tipperary (GAA) The Premier County[2][3][74][75] Origin uncertain.[75] Attested from 1864[76] One suggested origin is the prosperous farmland of the Golden Vale.[1] Another is that Tipperary was the seat of Butlers, Earls of Ormond[74]
Tipperary (GAA) The Stone Throwers[2][44][77] Tipperary agitators were unusually militant during the Land War of the 1870–90s.[78] Stone Throwers Park in Tipperary Hill, Syracuse, New York commemorates an incident in the 1930s when a group of Irish Americans threw stones to prevent an upside-down traffic light being set with the "red above the green"[79]
Tipperary (GAA) Tipp Clipping of Tipperary. The local radio station is Tipp FM.[80] The Féile Festival, held in Semple Stadium in Thurles in the 1990s, was branded "the trip to Tipp"[81]
Tyrone (GAA) The O'Neill County[2][3][45] Mediaeval lords[2]
Tyrone (GAA) The Red Hand County,[2][3] the Red Hands[82][83] The Red Hand of Ulster on the county's GAA crest, also on the arms of the O'Neills[1][2]
Tyrone (GAA) "Tyrone among the bushes"[2] From a poem by Strabane poet William Collins, who took part in the Fenian raids into Canada:

"O God be with the good old times when I was twenty-one
In Tyrone among the bushes, where the Finn and Mourne run
When my heart was gay and merry, recked then not of care or toil
Blithesome as the bells of Derry ringing o’er the sunny Foyle"

Waterford (GAA) The Déise,[2][3][84] Decies[85] Mediaeval kingdom of the Déisi[2]
Waterford (GAA) The Suirsiders[3] River Suir
Waterford (GAA) The Gentle County[84][86] The Gentle County: a Saga of the Decies People by Nicholas Whittle was published in 1959.[87] He chose the title because "We in Waterford have never been too prone to blow our own trumpet"[88]
Waterford (GAA) The Crystal County[2][3] Waterford Crystal[2]
Westmeath (GAA) The Lake County[2][3][89] Site of many lakes, including Loughs Derravaragh, Ennell, Lene, Owel and Ree[2]
Wexford (GAA) The Model County[2][3][90] From its progressive farming methods and model farms[1][2] The first agricultural school in Ireland was opened in Wexford in the 1850s;[91] however, the nickname "model county" was established by 1847[92] "Exemplar Hiberniae" is the motto chosen for the county arms in 1987.[93]
Wexford (GAA) The Yellowbellies[3][44] Said to have been first applied to a Wexford hurling team raised by Sir Caesar Colclough, which won a challenge match in Cornwall in the reign of William III of England while wearing yellow sashes in tribute to William as Prince of Orange.[94] The county colours (yellow with purple shoulders) reflect this pre-existing nickname
Wexford (GAA) The Slaneysiders[11] River Slaney
Wexford (GAA) The Strawberry Pickers[2] Due to its relatively warm dry climate, it grows more strawberries than most of Ireland[2]
Wicklow (GAA) The Garden of Ireland[2][95] the Garden county[3][95][96] Possibly from the planted estates of Big Houses such as Powerscourt House;[1] or from the county's scenery;[97] or serving as a garden for the adjacent city of Dublin. Formerly "the garden of Ireland" has been applied to: the Blackwater valley between Mallow and Fermoy;[98] Carlow town;[95][99][100] Killough Hill near Cashel;[101] eastern County Westmeath;[102] and the province of Ulster[103]
Wicklow (GAA) The Goat Suckers[2][104] Feral goats roam the Wicklow Mountains[2]

Other inter-county GAA teams

Outside Ireland, the GAA is organised into regional bodies which have the same status as Irish counties, some of which compete in the same inter-county competitions.

In 2008, the main Dublin and Down hurling teams were supplemented with second teams competing in the Nicky Rackard Cup, respectively called Fingal and South Down.[105]

County Nickname Origins and notes
Hertfordshire (GAA) Herts Clipping of Hertfordshire[106]
London GAA The men from the county Hell[3] Boys from the County Hell, 1984 song by the Pogues
London GAA The Exiles Recruited from Irish emigrants "exiled" in Britain. The nickname is also used for New York GAA and London Irish rugby union club
New York GAA The Exiles Recruited from Irish emigrants "exiled" in New York. The nickname is also used for London GAA
South Down GAA The non-Ardsmen[107] Players are selected from outside the Ards peninsula, the stronghold of Down hurling[105]
Warwickshire (GAA) Warks Clipping of Warwickshire[106]

Quotations

I must pause to explain to the unsophisticated Sassenach that, like Homer's heroes, most Irish towns and counties have their appropriate epithets, which no election speaker should be ignorant of. There is 'rebel' Cork, 'gallant' Tipperary, Limerick of the 'violated treaty', the 'urbs intacta' which is Waterford, and Galway the 'City of the Tribes' [...] Clare is the Banner County
— Alice L. Milligan[18]
Limerick 'buttermilks' and Tipperary 'stone-throwers,' Wexford 'yellow-bellies,' Kilkenny 'wet-the-guns,' Ulster 'far-downs,' and County Mayo 'God-help-us' people, all meet in fraternal harmony with no cause of quarrel.
— P.G. Smyth[44]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ See Derry/Londonderry name dispute; the GAA uses "Derry".

Sources

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 McMahon, Seán; Jo O'Donoghue (2004). Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase & Fable. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-36334-0.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 Hughes, Martin; Gerry Coughlan (March 2007). "Regional variations: County nicknames". Irish Language and Culture. Lonely Planet. pp. 195–202. ISBN 1-74059-577-7.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 Corry, Eoghan (2005). The GAA book of lists. Dublin: Hodder Headline Ireland. pp. 182–3. ISBN 0-340-89695-7.
  4. 1 2 "Minutes of the meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee". Council Chamber, Townhall, Enniskillen: Fermanagh District Council. 23 February 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2008. The Committee also considered a letter from Westmeath County Council which expressed a desire to develop links between County Westmeath and County Fermanagh, highlighting similarities including the status as a 'Lake County' [...]
  5. 1 2 Davenport, Fionn; Charlotte Beech; Tom Downs; Des Hannigan (2006). "Directory: Activities: Fishing". Ireland. Lonely Planet. p. 677. Cavan, 'the Lake County', is a favourite with hardcore fishermen
  6. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.108
  7. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.169
  8. ↑ "County Armagh". Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  9. ↑ "Northern Ireland Local Elections 2001: ARMAGH / The Orchard". BBC NI. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  10. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.46
  11. 1 2 "GAA: Battling Barrowsiders are pipped by Slaneysiders". Carlow Nationalist. 10 April 2003. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  12. ↑ Wilde, William Robert W. (1852). "III: Reminiscences of the West". Ireland: Her Wit, Peculiarities and Popular Superstitions. Dublin. p. 87. Carlow was also celebrated for cock-fighting. About forty years ago, the following attractive notice might be seen in a cutler's window in London—"Carlow spurs sold here."
  13. ↑ "S.I. No. 164/1977 — Local Government (Roads and Motorways) Act, 1974 (Declaration of National Roads) Order, 1977". 1 June 1977. Retrieved 26 February 2008. N 80 [...] Fighting Cocks' Cross Roads [...]
  14. ↑ "Rathoe Village Draft Local Area Plan" (PDF). Carlow County Council. p. 13. the Tullow to Fenagh and Nurney via the Fighting Cocks area running east to west
  15. ↑ Rathoe Village Draft Local Area Plan, p.9 "The Fighting Cocks GAA club and field are located c.2km west of the village"
  16. ↑ "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times. 1 June 1934. p. 4. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  17. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.34
  18. 1 2 3 Milligan, Alice L. (April 1900). "An Account of his Stewardship". Cornhill Magazine (London). VIII (3rd Series) (46): 528.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Share 2001, p.133
  20. ↑ Spellissy, Sean (2003-01-01). A History of County Clare. Gill & Macmillan. p. 39. ISBN 9780717134601.
  21. 1 2 Share 2001, p.205
  22. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.190
  23. ↑ Murphy, John A. (1993). "Anatomy and Essence". In Patrick O'Hagan & Cornelius G. Buttimer. Cork History & Society. Dublin: Geography Publications. p. 13. ISBN 0-906602-22-X.
  24. ↑ Cummiskey, Gavin (2 October 2006). "O'Flynn's late point leaves Leesiders on top". The Irish Times.
  25. ↑ O'Keeffe, Jim (7 October 1992). "Private Members' Business. — Overseas Development Aid: Motion.". Dáil Éireann Parliamentary Debates — Volume 423. Dublin: Government of Ireland. pp. 458–9. Retrieved 25 February 2008. The people of Skibbereen are known as the “donkey eaters” because in the last century the town of Skibbereen suffered more than any other part of the country from the Famine. It is still a folk memory there
  26. 1 2 3 Dolan 2006, p.166
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 Archer, Kenny (28 May 2008). "Hitting the Target - Ulster Council decision not to be taken light(ly)". Irish News. p. 58. The footballers are 'the Mournemen' while the hurlers are 'the Ardsmen', even though there are many Down footballers from outside the Kingdom of Mourne and a few decent hurlers on 'the mainland'
  28. ↑ e.g. "The Championship - Derry hurlers in fine form for title holders". Irish News. 26 July 2008. p. 73. Derry were given little chance of beating the Mournemen but they produced a sparkling performance
    Campbell, John (7 June 2007). "Happy days for Down hurler Johnston". Belfast Telegraph. Even before last Sunday's embarrassing mauling by Antrim, the Mournemen were already destined for the Christy Ring Cup
  29. ↑ Ó Murchú, Donall. "Rúnaí report for 2006" (PDF). Ulster GAA. p. 5. Retrieved 8 March 2009. despite the best efforts of the Ards men, representing Down, it was Antrim who lifted the Senior Hurling Championship
  30. ↑ "Down advance to Ulster hurling final". RTÉ. 29 May 2005. Retrieved 8 March 2009. the Ardsmen run out nine-point winners
  31. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.81
  32. ↑ Rouse, Paul (1 June 2006). "The Jacks are back" (PDF). Village. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  33. ↑ Devine, Liam (20 July 2005). "The Jacks are back". Roscommon Herald. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  34. ↑ Bolger, Richard (23 May 1995). "Dubliners who have made it into my hall of fame and why". Retrieved 6 May 2008. Kevin Heffernan [...] Destined to immortality in the chant:
       "The Jacks are back, The Jacks are back,
       Let the railway end go barmy,
       Hill 16, Has never seen,
       The likes of Heffos army
  35. ↑ "Down beat Fermanagh in game of attrition". Radio Telefís Éireann. 18 June 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2008. Colum Bradley looked very sharp for the Lake County
  36. ↑ "Football: DIVISION 1 A - FERMANAGH The Ernesiders". Sunday Mirror. 5 February 2006. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
  37. ↑ Curran, John Philpot (1855). Thomas Osborne Davis, ed. The Speeches of the Right Honourable John Philpot Curran (2nd ed.). Dublin: James Duffy. p. 67.
  38. 1 2 Share 2001, p.170
  39. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.210
  40. ↑ "Co. Kildare Cricket Club: Tour in the South". The Irish Times. 14 July 1897. p. 6 col. I. The following players will represent the "short grass" county [etc.]
  41. 1 2 Share 2001, p.224
  42. 1 2 Cassidy, Colman (16 November 1999). "Kildare exploits its 'horsey' image". The Irish Times. p. 16. Retrieved 13 February 2009. Kildare has adopted the horse as its official logo by assuming a new identity as the "thoroughbred county". The brand was officially introduced yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy [...] Kildare is home to the Irish Turf Club, the Curragh, Punchestown and Naas racecourse, the National Stud, the Irish Equestrian Centre, Weatherbys (keeper of the Stud Book) and Goffs — with more than 120 stud farms and more than 60 training establishments
  43. 1 2 Share 2001, p.112
  44. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Smyth, P. G. (November 1899). "The Revolt of Wogan's Wolf-Dogs". Catholic World 70 (416): 208. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
  45. 1 2 Dolan 2006, p.168
  46. 1 2 Fennelly, Teddy. "Laois - a county steeped in history and heritage". Laois Heritage Society. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  47. ↑ "Quidnunc" (18 February 1939). "An Irishman's Diary". The Irish Times (Dublin). p. 6.
  48. ↑ Guidera, Anita (13 August 2008). "Social isolation and poverty blamed for early death". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 March 2009. Men in the county known as 'Lovely' Leitrim
  49. ↑ McGreevy, Ronan (23 June 2007). "Leitrim aims to stop the laughing". The Irish Times. p. 5. Retrieved 8 March 2009. Even in the bad old days the county was known as "Lovely Leitrim"
  50. ↑ "Lovely Leitrim recorded". Leitrim Observer. 27 November 1965. p. 2.
  51. ↑ "Lovely Leitrim by Larry Cunningham". Leitrim GAA. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
  52. ↑ "A tribute to county Leitrim". Leitrim Observer. 15 September 1956. p. 2.
  53. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.192
  54. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.198
  55. ↑ Taaffe, Frank (20 October 2000). "Eye on the Past - No. 420". Kildare Nationalist. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  56. 1 2 Whittow, John Byron (1974). Geology and Scenery in Ireland. Pelican geography and environmental studies. Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 169. ISBN 0-14-021791-6.
  57. ↑ "Mayo’s finest fighters to be honoured at Night of the Champs". Western People. 13 June 2006. Retrieved 8 March 2009. With men and women of the highest administrative standing overseeing the promotion, development and expansion of boxing within Mayo, the titles have continued to filter back to the Yew County
  58. ↑ Böll, Heinrich (1998) [1957]. "Ch.4: Mayo — God help us". Irish Journal [Irisches Tagebuch]. translated by Leila Vennewitz. Northwestern University Press. p. 25. ISBN 0-8101-6062-5. Now the Irish have a strange custom: whenever the name of County Mayo is spoken (whether in praise, blame or noncommittally), as soon as the mere word Mayo is spoken, the Irish add: "God help us!"
  59. ↑ Ó Gráda, Cormac (1999). Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory. Princeton University Press. pp. 28, 92. ISBN 0-691-01550-3.
  60. ↑ Davis, Thomas Osborne (1845). "The Green above the Red". The Spirit of the Nation: Ballads and Songs by the Writers of "The Nation". Dublin: James Duffy. pp. 264–5.
  61. 1 2 Share 2001, p.209
  62. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.194
  63. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.89
  64. 1 2 McCluskey, Seamus (December 2004). "Farney is just part of Oriel". Monaghan's Match. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  65. ↑ "A quick guide to Monaghan football". Irish Independent. 8 August 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  66. ↑ Croke, Andy (14 June 1953). "Fate was unkind to Offaly". Sunday Independent. p. 10.
  67. ↑ "GAA Presidents: Robert O'Keeffe". GAA. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
  68. ↑ Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society (9 January 2007). "Offaly -- Úi Failghe (The Faithful County Coat of Arms)". Tullamore. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  69. ↑ "90/04 Dr. T. O'Neill; RTÉ Radio 1, 'Morning Ireland', unfair reference made about Offaly people, impartiality & slander; Rejected" (MS Word). Broadcasting Complaints Commission of Ireland. October 2004. Retrieved 26 February 2008. This word [sc. 'Biffo'] is widely understood to stand for 'Big Ignorant Fucker from Offaly'
  70. ↑ O'Toole, Fintan (19 September 1991). "Completing the transaction called Ireland". The Irish Times. p. 10 col. A. There are so many Irish here they have special acronyms. As well as the Yuppies and Dinkies there are Biffos — Big Ignorant Effers From Offaly
  71. ↑ Lynch, Declan (21 November 1993). "Radio". Sunday Independent. p. 16. that crual New York acronym, BIFFO — a Big Ignorant F***er From Offaly
  72. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.209
  73. ↑ Gaffey, Sheila (2004). Signifying Place: The Semiotic Realisation of Place in Irish Product Marketing. Ashgate. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-7546-3934-3. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  74. 1 2 Share 2001, p.201
  75. 1 2 Murphy, Donal A (1994). The two Tipperarys : the national and local politics - devolution and self-determination - of the unique 1838 division into two ridings, and the aftermath. Regional studies in political and administrative history no.1. Nenagh: Relay. p. 73. ISBN 0-946327-13-0. The origins of the tag, 'The Premier County', perpetuated by sportswriters and in an occasional burst of political rhetoric, are unidentified by eleven other county-wide local historians whom I've consulted
  76. ↑ "The "International Boxing Match"". The Nation. 8 October 1864. pp. 110, col.2. it redounds infinitely to the credit of this force that such a debasing and inhuman spectacle of English customs and English sport was prevented from being enacted in this country, especially in Tipperary, the premier county of Ireland
  77. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.228
  78. ↑ Sheehy-Skeffington, Hanna (July 1912). "The Women's Movement — Ireland". Irish Review: 225–7. in Land League times 'Tipperary stone-throwers' became proverbial cited in Ward, Margaret (1997). "Nationalism, Pacifism, Internationalism: Louie Bennett, Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, and the Problems of "Defining Feminism"". In Anthony Bradley, Maryann Gialanella Valiulis. Gender and Sexuality in Modern Ireland. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. p. 64. ISBN 1-55849-131-7.
  79. ↑ Driscoll, Matthew J. (14 March 2007). "Mayor's Proclamations: Stone Throwers Park Day" (PDF). City of Syracuse. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  80. ↑ "TippFm.com: County Tipperary's Radio Station". Retrieved 6 March 2008.
  81. ↑ Quigley, Maeve (20 June 1999). "We Had To Lay A Ghost To Rest If The Four Of Us Were To Release Any". Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 6 March 2008. [...] the band stole the show at major open air festivals including a number of Feile Trip To Tipp festivals in Thurles
  82. ↑ Scully, Michael (3 August 2013). "Cathal McCarron says Tyrone are up against it when they take on Ulster champions Monaghan at Croke Park -". Irish Daily Mirror. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  83. ↑ "After match reaction: Monaghan–Tyrone". Northern Sound Radio. 3 August 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  84. 1 2 "Clicking into the burning heart of Déise connection". Irish Examiner. 2 September 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2009. The viking logo is somewhat at odds with Waterford's Gentle County nickname
  85. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.74
  86. ↑ Aulsberry, Bill (28 September 2007). "Honouring memory of Wallace [letter]". Waterford News & Star. Retrieved 8 March 2009. Waterford, the county that has the nickname of the 'Gentle County'
  87. ↑ Fraher, Willie; et al. (26 July 2001). "People in Waterford History - 20th Century: 23. Nicholas Whittle". Waterford County Museum. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
  88. ↑ "Man-about-town" (27 February 1959). "City Chatter: The Title". Munster Express. p. 9.
  89. ↑ Share 2001, p.167
  90. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.157
  91. ↑ Share 2001, p.179
  92. ↑ Meagher, Thomas Francis (1853). "Irish Confederation—National Union". Speeches on the Legislative Independence of Ireland. New York City: Redfield. pp. 95–7. Retrieved 11 February 2009. 14 January 1847, a meeting of Irish Peers, Commoners, and landed proprictors, of all creeds and partics, convened by the requisition alluded to, took place in the Rotunda, Dublin. [...] Mr. Charles A. Walker, D.L, Co. Wexford, regretted to state, that Wexford, "which hitherto had been the 'model county' of Ireland, was in similar destitution [...]"
  93. ↑ Wexford County Council (5 October 1987). "Report of General Purposes Committee Meeting" (PDF). Wexford county archives. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
    and Creedon, William P. (1999). Exemplar Hiberniae: 100 Years of Local Government in County Wexford. Institute of Public Administration. ISBN 9781902448138.
  94. ↑ Hall, Samuel Carter; Anna Maria Hall (1846). "Wexford". Ireland: its scenery, character, &c. London: Jeremiah Howe. p. Vol II, p.151, footnote. Out of compliment to William, the Irish were provided with yellow sashes, or handkerchiefs, for their waists, from which circumstance Wexford men are still often called "yellow bellies."
  95. 1 2 3 Share 2001, p.141
  96. ↑ Dolan 2006, p.103
  97. ↑ Coyne, J. Stirling; N.P. Willis, etc. (c. 1841). "Vol. I, Chap. VII". The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland. The county of Wicklow has justly been termed "The Garden of Ireland," for nowhere else is to be found assembled such a variety of natural beauties, heightened and improved by the hand of art Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  98. ↑ Croker, Thomas Crofton (1824). "VII: The River Blackwater". Researches in the South of Ireland: Illustrative of the Scenery, Architectural Remains, and the Manners and Superstitions of the Peasantry. London: John Murray. p. 130. [...] the Blackwater between Mallow and Fermoy, a tract dignified by the name of the garden of Ireland [...]
  99. ↑ Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1898). Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Philadelphia: bartleby.com. ISBN 1-58734-094-1. Garden of Ireland Carlow
  100. ↑ Somerville, Alexander (1852). "Letters from Ireland during the Famine of 1847: No III: Kilkenny, 27th January". The Whistler at the Plough ... with Letters from Ireland. Manchester: James Ainsworth. p. 443. The country around this town [sc. Carlow] is called the garden of Ireland: it well deserves the name. There are about 500 acres of onions and parsnips grown annually [...]
  101. ↑ Croker, Thomas Crofton (1828). "Scath-A-Legaune". Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (2nd ed.). London: John Murray. p. 258. From the Cashel road the hill of Killough is pointed out to the traveller as Gardeen a Herin, the garden of Ireland, in consequence of a belief that it is a national natural botanic establishment, and that every plant which grows in Ireland is to be found upon it.
  102. ↑ Lewis, Samuel (1837). "Westmeath (County of)". A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co. Retrieved 26 February 2008. Throughout the eastern part of the county the soil is a heavy loam from seven to twelve inches (305 mm) deep, resting on a yellow till: the land here is chiefly under pasture and feeds the fattest bullocks; from its great fertility it has been called the "garden of Ireland;"
  103. ↑ The Earl of Derby, speaking in the House of Lords in opposition to the Irish Church Act 1869; quoted in Saintsbury, George (1892). The Earl of Derby. The Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria. ed. Stuart J. Reid. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 192. These are the men who, united by you to settle in Ireland, converted Ulster from a barren waste into a thriving province; and who, by their energy, their industry, and their steady conduct, have made the province of Ulster not merely the 'garden of Ireland' but the most gratifying and wonderful contrast to those parts of Ireland in which the Protestant religion does not prevail
  104. ↑ "Gearing up for the championship". Wicklow People. 27 March 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2008. I knew a man once who used to say the Dublin would win nothing without a Wicklow man on the team, a bit of an exaggeration perhaps but if you look through the record books you will find quite a few 'goat-suckers' on Dublin teams in the past
  105. 1 2 Cummiskey, Gavin (17 May 2007). "Down, Dublin teams to compete in Rackard". The Irish Times. p. Sport, p.24. Retrieved 8 March 2009. The GAA confirmed yesterday that second teams from Down and Dublin would compete in the Nicky Rackard Cup in 2008 [...] non-Ards (Down) and Fingal (Dublin) sides will be entered "on a basis determined by the Central Competitions Control Committee"
  106. 1 2 "Hertfordshire County Board". Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  107. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Matt (9 February 2009). "Non-Ardsmen have ’keeper to thank". Irish News. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
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