Mac Síthigh

Rev Patrick Woulfe

Irish Names and Surnames

1923

Mac SÍTHIGH—IV—M'Shihy, M'Shiehie, M'Shee, MacSheehy, Sheehy; 'son of Sítheach' (peaceful); a branch of the MacDonnells of Scotland, descended from Sítheach, great-grandson of Domhnall, the ancestor from whom that family took its name. The MacSheehys were famous as gallowglasses, and as such were employed in various parts of Ireland in the 14th and two succeeding centuries. The name is first mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 1367, when they took part in a battle fought between two factions of the O'Connors, near Ballysodare, Co. Sligo. In the year 1420, they came to Munster, and settled in Co. Limerick, as constables to the Earl of Desmond, where they built the castle of Lisnacolla (or Woodfort) in the parish of Clonagh, about four miles west of Rathkeale. The name is now almost peculiar to Munster.

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