O'Connell family of Derrynane

The principal seat of the senior line of the family was Derrynane Abbey now an Irish National Monument.

[2][3][4][5][6] It has been suggested that the O'Connells are a sept of the Corcu Duibne, the Ua Congaile, a kingdom native to County Kerry.

[8] While certainly a possibility, and one demanding more research, there still remains more supporting evidence at this time for a descent from the Uí Chonaill Gabra of County Limerick: a family using the sept name of their former kingdom as their surname following its disintegration is not something unheard of in Ireland,[9] and the claims of Count O'Connell to descent from Dáire Cerbba cannot simply be dismissed as career-minded, when the Uí Fidgenti had long since faded and a Corcu Duibne ancestry would have been no less attractive.

A descent from the Corcu Duibne would make the O'Connells of Derrynane kin to the O'Sheas and O'Falveys, and descendants of the legendary Conaire Mór, ancestor also of the Dál Riata monarchs of Scotland.

Thus the O'Connells are not technically allowed to be of royal extraction because they cannot conclusively prove their patrilineal ancestors to have been kings of any specific septs or territories, even if they might have been.