Just Irish Music

The Flight of the Earls tells the story of a fateful September in 1607 when the proud Gaelic lords of Ulster set sail from the shores of Ireland, carrying with them the last light of the old Gaelic order. The song captures that moment not as quiet tragedy but as a storm of emotion — the clash of loyalty, loss, and hope that marked the end of an age. Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O’Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, once the great defenders of Ireland against Elizabeth’s armies, found themselves surrounded by betrayal, spies, and the tightening chains of conquest. Knowing their lands would soon be seized and their heads hunted, they gathered their families, followers, and priests and boarded ships at Rathmullan on Lough Swilly. As the sails caught the wind, Ireland watched its nobility vanish into the western sea. Yet this Irish ballad does not weep in silence; it beats like a drum of farewell. The fiddles rise, the bodhrán strikes, and the voices of the people send their lords away...

The Flight of the Earls – September 1607 A Turning Point in Irish History On a quiet September morning in 1607, a small ship slipped away from the shores of Lough Swilly in County Donegal. Aboard were Hugh O'Neill , Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell , Earl of Tyrconnell — two of the most powerful Gaelic lords in Ireland. With them were nearly one hundred family members, loyal followers, and retainers. They would never return. This event would become known as “The Flight of the Earls” — a departure that marked not only the end of an era, but the collapse of a centuries-old Gaelic order. With the sailing of that ship, Ireland lost her last native princes, and the door was thrown open for total English control. What followed was conquest, colonisation, and the slow dismantling of a civilisation rooted in language, law, custom, and clan. The End of Gaelic Ireland To understand the weight of the Flight, we must return to the years before it. The late 16th century was a time ...