O'Driscoll (surname)

The O'Driscolls were rulers of the Dáirine sept of the Corcu Loígde until the early modern period; their ancestors were Kings of Munster until the rise of the Eóganachta in the 7th century.

By the time the family began using the surname, the territory known as Corcu Loígde (roughly the same as the diocese of Ross) in south-west County Cork, was identified as their homeland, with the town of Baltimore been their seat.

According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Driscolls were a chiefly family of the Corca Laoghdne who in turn came from the Erainn tribe who were the second wave of Celts who settled in Ireland from 500 to 100 BC.

According to genealogist John Grenham:[citation needed] From the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries they struck an alliance with the Powers of County Waterford in their long feud with the burgesses and merchants of Waterford city, and many of their leaders were killed in battle on land and sea.

The poem further describes that, "High on a gallows tree a yelling wretch is seen: Hackett of Dungarvan steered the Algerine".