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Lamh Ladir Abu
The name McCarthy comes from the Irish Mac Carthaigh, from cartach, 'loving'. The original Cartach from whom the surname is taken was king of Cashel c. 1040, when Doncha, son of Brian Ború, was king of Munster . cartach was part of the dynasty claiming descent from Eoghan, one of the sons of Oiloll Ollum, the semi-ledgendary third-century king of Munster. The Eoghancht, as they were known, had dominated Munster virtually unchallenged until the meteoric rise of Brian, part of the rival Dál gCais, who claimed descent from another son of Oiloll Ollum, Cas. The Eoghancht resisted the Dál gCais fiercely, with the result that the MacCarthys and the O'Briens, with their respective allies, waged bitter, intermittent war for almost a century and a half. In the mid twelfth century the struggle ended with the MacCarthys ousted from their homeland in the Golden Vale in Co. Tipperary. They moved south, into the historic territory of Desmond, and it is with this area, which includes modern counties Cork and Kerry, that they have been strongly associated ever since.Nevertheless, the family retained their ability to rule, dominating much of Munster for almost five centuries. There were four distict branches: those led by the MacCarthy Mór ('Great MacCarthy'), nominal head of all the MacCarthys, who ruled over much of south Kerry; the Duhallow MacCarthys, Controlling northwest Cork; MacCarthy Riabhach ('grey') based in Carberry in southwest Cork; and MacCarthy Muskerry, on the Cork/Kerry border. Each continued to offer resistance to Norman and English encroachments up to the seventeenth century when they finally succumbed.
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