Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill

Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill (also known as Eileen O' Connell, c. 1743 – c. 1800) was an Irish noblewoman and poet, the composer of Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire.

Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill was a member of the Muintir Uí Chonaill of Derrynane, County Kerry, being one of twenty-two children of Dómhnaill Mór Ó Conaill and an aunt of Daniel O'Connell. She first married at age fifteen, but the marriage was childless and her elderly husband died after only six months.

In 1767 she fell in love with Captain Art Ó Laoghaire of Rathleigh, Macroom, County Cork, as he rode past on a dark white steed, the peerless, whose forehead bore a snow-white star. He had recently returned from service in the Hungarian Hussars. Eileen was 23; she had been married to "old O'Connor of Firies" when she was 15, and widowed within six months of that marriage. With the marriage against the express wishes of her family, Art and Eibhlin eloped, marrying on 19 December 1767 and settled down to life at Rathleigh where they lived with Art's father, Cornelius Ó Laoire, having five children, three of whom died in infancy. She was pregnant at the time of Art's death.

Art Ó Laoghaire (O'Leary) was a Roman Catholic, one of the few surviving Catholic gentry. The anti-Catholic Penal Laws in force in Ireland during the 18th century made it impossible for 95% of the population to receive an education or have a career in their own country. Ó Laoghaire had been educated on the Continent and served as a captain in the Hungarian Hussars, a Regiment of Empress Marie Theresa's Army of Austro-Hungary. As would befit a well-regarded soldier, aristocrat and husband and father, the epitaph on his tomb reads "Lo! Arthur Leary, generous, handsome, brave, / Slain in his bloom, lies in this humble grave."

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