The mannion clan of county galway warriors chieftains and kings

BY one of those strange quirks of life, sometimes referred to as synchronicity, the very week I was charged with writing this piece on the Mannion clan gathering taking place in Menlough, one of their ancestral strongholds, later this month, I had spent a day hiking the Hy-Many Way from Portumna to Meelick along the Shannon Callows and on to Clonfert – the heartland of the Ui Maine (Hy Many) to which, historically, the distinct ” Mainnín clan owed fealty and allegiance.
Incidentally, Menlough is derived from Mionlach Uí Mhainnín — the little lake of the Mannions – but more on this anon.
Within days of my hike – ten hours of walking, 20 minutes by taxi back to Portumna, and the car — I was immersed in material relating to the Sogain people and their distinct East Galway kingdom, Tír Sogháin, bordered by the rivers Clare to the west, Suck to the east, Grange-Shiven to the north and Raford and Ballinure to the south.
Somewhere in the dark recesses of ancient history, where myth, legend, folklore and fact reside, lie the origins of the Mannions. Were they a Celtic tribe granted the kingdom of Sogain by Queen Maeve around the time of Christ? Were they Picts from Scotland resettled during the movements of the Celtic tribes into Ireland as part of an occupation which displaced and enslaved pre-Celtic tribes known as the Senchineoil or “the old people” — the Fir Bolg and the like?