32 Irish County Nicknames Explained

[@Ceoil]

I was looking forward to hearing the background to the Dubs being called "the jackeens"

[@jamesmccarthy7228]

I fondly remember as a child my late Father shouting, "come on the blood & the bandage" for his beloved Cork during hurling and football matches !!!

[@doylersafl8728]

Yeah, I've heard Cork being called 'the Bloods' a couple of times

[@tomaslynch9621]

Cork are also sometimes called the blood and bandage for the colours of the jerseys

[@interestingeire]

Cool never heard of that one

[@dhayes3963]

Thanks for noting that the Ardsmen is the correct term for Down’s hurlers. So many lazy journalists call them the Mournemen.

[@Hertog_von_Berkshire]

Thanks for that. I learned a lot.

[@ailisbergin7588]

Tipperary is known as the Premier County because they won the first ever hurling All Ireland championship

[@tmcg5471]

Kerry won the first ever Hurling Championship; their only Hurling title to date.

[@Alasdair37448]

I love the many art clips included in this video!

[@chuckyx934]

Tipperary are also known as the stone throwers. This was due to Tipp fan's throwing stone's and opposing fans during a game in the early 1900's.

[@JMc-ki7kq]

I also notice how Cavan always refer to themselves as Breffni but I think the Breffni kingdom was much bigger than that, it also included Leitrim. Then there is Monaghan calling themselves "Farney". Farney is only a part of co.Monaghan. for example Clones isn't in Farney.

[@beaglaoich4418]

Cavan is east and Leitrim west Breffni.
The barony of Farney is the south eastern part of Monaghan and Oriel/Airgialla is a kingdom that fluctuated in size from mostly Monaghan to Monaghan and Louth

[@HimWitDaHair98]

I think parts of North Longford fell in Breffni too. Hard to know

[@emmagracecowan8701]

Would be great if there were subtitles like on the Instagram video! It helps with the Gaelic words in particular. Great stuff!

[@interestingeire]

Thanks good suggestion, you can stick on Closed Captions (the CC button) which put subtitles on the video

[@1969JohnnyM]

Go on Antrim, going swimming as a kid at Andytown Leisure centre the very close by Casement Park GAA ground was emblematic of most Nationalist areas, run down, impoverished and deprived and neglected by design so its great to see the improvements.

[@poetrybypatrickmitchell6369]

Kildares Lilywhite nickname gets it from the Ardreigh Mill in athy where they used to produce the lily white flour.

[@user-de1zt3pm9p]

Limerick city is known as the treaty city.limerick hurlers on the other hand are known as the shannonsider,.

[@whoisnooners]

Colin Ryan won the all Ireland with Clare and now he teaches in my school

[@graham3368]

Very politically correct about the Dubs...no mention of the biggest nickname

[@PatsyCrew]

Champions of Ireland? The Capital? Civilised, and not sheepshagger muck savage inbred coulchie?

[@Backpfeifengesicht45]

​@@PatsyCrewOK, jackeen.

[@culaterw41pr]

@@Backpfeifengesicht45 For those who don't know the suffix "een" in Hiberno English indicates the diminutive as in small.
So Jackeen means small supporter of the Union Jack... i.e. you're not an Irish nationalist...

[@Backpfeifengesicht45]

@@culaterw41pr further to this, it originated in Cork when news travelled of Dubliners waving the union jack during the visit of the famine queen, aka Victoria to Dublin.

[@cacamilis8477]

I've heard of two other explanations for the "Banner County". The first is that Daniel O'Connell held one of his gigantic public demonstrations for Irish self-determination in Ennis town, where hundreds of thousands of Clare people gathered in groups, each with a banner showing the name of their village or town. The second comes from the Clare Dragoons, a regiment of heavy cavalry that served the British Crown in the 17th? century. They were all from Clare, wore Blue and Saffron uniforms, and made a habit of stealing the war banners of their opponents. They were renowned soldiers, famous for their "Banner Shout" or warcry when charging.

[@interestingeire]

Fascinating, thanks for sharing

[@Dreyno]

Targeting your enemies colours was standard practice at the time to the extent that a colour guard were specifically tasked with defending the colours. Often armed with fairly medieval weapons like axes.
So I doubt that their taking of banners was notable enough for the name to stem from that. I think the O’Connell story is far more plausible.

[@jeremiahcrean6417]

Do you not know that the Irish flag is green white and orange NOT gold?😊

[@Kitiwake]

Thomas Davis wrote a famous song about Clare's Dragoons who's boast is capturing the English banners and Claresbridge is partially there.

[@cacamilis8477]

@@jeremiahcrean6417 Did you reply to the wrong comment?

[@Getting-On]

Excellent vid, thanks.

[@JMc-ki7kq]

Tyrone like to think they are the only region associated with the red hand/O'Neill's but that is oversimplifying history. South Co.Derry and the majority of Antrim were also ruled by O'Neills up until the plantation. To complicate the matter even further the 'Ui Neill' were originally based in Inishowen Donegal before they moved east over 1000 years ago.

[@eamonlyons8318]

The O'Neill surname is all over Ireland through its cadet lines like O'Connell and O'Donnell, plus 6 other surnames. Niall Noighallach was the first O'Neil and he was the root of 9 different clans, however the O'Neill rulership was most prevalent in Tir Eoghan and the Kingdom of Midh.

[@liamquinn1981]

who else skipped right to their county and then when back to the beginning to watch them all?

[@eimhingalvin8864]

forgot the 'goat suckers' and 'gardeners' for Wicklow

[@paddybrennan7093]

I never heard Dublin called anything but the jacks

[@FionanUaMurchadha]

Usually just call them Jackeens

[@johnmc3862]

And Culchies everywhere else! ​@@FionanUaMurchadha

[@Pjvenom1985]

Go raibh maith agat, thanks for sharing.🌱🌠🍀

[@esmonde1]

Tipp also known as the Stone Throwers.

[@daveeol1987]

Bulmers suckers

[@tommybhoy1581]

Waterford is also know as the blaa men , because of a small flat bread roll a Blaa eaten at breakfast

[@paulsheridan6320]

Great video, really enjoyed that!

[@cormacbrowne9571]

Wexford; as I understood got the yellowbelly title from the buff waistcoats worn by pike men in 1798.

[@connaire141]

Is the picture you use when refering to Monaghan as the drumlin county not a photo of the Lower lough Erne? Great Video by the way👍

[@nevillesynnott2817]

Offaly also known as the BIFFO's

[@weeeeehhhhh]

Only by people outside Offaly :)

[@Dubhfinna420]

The tricolour is Green White and Orange

[@culaterw41pr]

Good man... And while we are on the subject for no Irish people it's tricolour (pronounced try colour) NOT TRICKCOLOUR...
Amazing how many English people cannot properly pronounce their own language... 🤬🤬🤬

[@michaelhannan3517]

Um, with Dublin you forgot to mention the Jacks? Or Jackeens if we're talking about the women's team? From the time King George VII came over in 1905 for a royal visit and loads of people in Dublin came out to greet him with Union Jack flags...people in the rest of the country werent too happy and called people from Dublin 'Jacks' for short and the name stuck, alas. Mind you, as we Dubs like to say, we're the city that took on an Empire in 1916 😀!

[@culaterw41pr]

Dublin was the only city in the Republic to have people waving Union Jacks in the street until QEII visited Cork in 2011.
Also colloquially, going to the toilet is referred to in Ireland as going to the Jacks. Why? So you can p!ss and sh!t on the Union Jack...

[@datman220001]

Dublin GAA team is called The Jack's short for The Jackeen's. As in the old football song, the Jack's are back, the Jack's are back let the railway end go barmy, for hill sixteen has never seen the likes of Heffo's army.

[@tipptop9]

Are you sure its not for waving little union jacks 🤔 😃

[@bernieone1]

Jackeenns!

[@johnmc3862]

​@@tipptop9No that was Cork for the queens visit!!

[@STHFGDBY]

He missed the most important one about Dublin, the moat popular nickname for the Dubs for a long time was the Jack's, or Jackeens, how he didn't know that one is astonishing .

[@eoinf2773]

Yeah, muckers love calling dubs that!

[@robertkennedy7456]

Well ye did hold on to that flag the longest

[@eoinf2773]

@@robertkennedy7456 northern Ireland?

[@robertkennedy7456]

@@eoinf2773 fair point i was referring to county's no longer governed by Britain.

[@eoinf2773]

@@robertkennedy7456 I know, I was just being a nob !

[@shaundonovan8816]

History of Bruff and Bruree please? County Limerick.

[@Orielparadise]

Interesting, I think the south of Monaghan also used to use Oriel, but honestly hear it more it in North Louth now due to Dundalks stadium name Oriel park.

[@interestingeire]

Yeah you are right, Airgíalla (Oriel) was a medieval kingdom that spanned parts of Armagh, Monaghan, Louth, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry.

[@JMc-ki7kq]

The Airgialla is what the modern Armagh diocese is. I live in one of the most northern parishes of it.

[@ronniew3229]

Without taking the time to read all the comments I remind you of County Kilburn... 😉

[@michaelosullivan724]

Offaly also known as Kings county and Laois known as Queens county

[@interestingeire]

Yes thanks to Bloody Mary Tudor

[@emmetoconnor5105]

Officially in GAA nomenclature, Waterford is the gentle county. When you meet a Deiseach, they will take your hand warmly and then wait for you to speak.

[@seatroutking7555]

That’s the first time I every heard Sligo men references at Yeats men or magpies 🤣🤣

[@PGPyramid1]

Donegal is the forgotten county due to the lack of investment in, well, everything. But don't get me going!

[@kevkeary4700]

I would have thought for Co. Cork that one of their names would be the Langers!!

[@culaterw41pr]

The Langers County... superb... I'm going to reuse that if you don't mind...

[@emmettobrien1421]

Ye broke your heart with Louth, but a good video all the same 👌🏻

[@420Tombstone]

Offaly used to be called Kings County in honour of Philip II of Spain and Laois was called Queens County as it was shired by Queen Mary, seeing as 'the pale' made the cut.

[@HimWitDaHair98]

Perfect local pronunciation of Turles and Wahterford 😂

[@Sage50147]

Kildare are also know as the flour bags

[@tipptop9]

Tipperary is named the premier county as it was the first county to be incorporated. Although i guess this type of thing is always disputed! Hon Tipp

[@interestingeire]

Tipp could have had its own video for the amount of origins stories I found for their nickname 😄

[@gallowglass2630]

@@interestingeire I was going to add fighting cocks for carlow ,but i think thats just one club rather than the county.

[@bernieone1]

Hon the Premier!

[@brianhardrada1297]

Tipp is also known as the smelly poo poo heads.😂😂

[@stockroomtim]

Waterford are known as the blaas due to their fondness for weird bread

[@secretarykilkennychoir7137]

Dublin Jackeens (Jacobites), Wicklow Goats ...

[@garymacdonald7165]

My 2 grandfathers were an ONeill from County Tyrone,Northen Ireland and a Macdonald from Dundee,Scotland!
Cant get much more Irish/Scottish names than that!😄

[@LolLol-cq4bh]

“NI names” …well they’re either Irish or Scottish mate

[@garymacdonald7165]

@@LolLol-cq4bh 😄 Ive typed too fast! Changed it now!

[@carmelmhennessy9738]

Fabulous

[@workmail725]

Mayo also known as the rhubarbs.

[@culaterw41pr]

Never heard that one... Is that because of the jersey colour?

[@workmail725]

@@culaterw41pr red and green and tend to turn to crumble when under heat.

[@brianhardrada1297]

A guy told me one time that kildare are also known as the flower bags because one time they used flower bags playing Dublin.

[@Mancozeb100]

Think you’ll find that it was Flour Bags ! From all of the flour mills.

[@John-cn9bq]

Offaly are called the faithful due to the settlers being faithful to the king of England, hence there nickname the kings county

[@420Tombstone]

Kinda wrong, it was a Spanish king not and English king

[@dhayes3963]

Philip II was married to Mary Tudor.

[@420Tombstone]

@@dhayes3963 He sure was, but was not King of England

[@deanmulroy4332]

Tipperary was known as ( the stone throwers) long before it was known as the premier county
Dean o maolruaigh
Clueing meala

[@bppmurphy]

5:22 funny you mention youve never heard that one before. Like the first nickname I'd think of for Carlow is the scallion 'aters. Also to add, another nickname for Laois is the "Poor County". Im not sure why but I've heard it being called that

[@Roisin1898]

You forgot the dubliners other name, THE JACKEENS, they got the name for coming out waving their little union jacks at the king of england.

[@AnnesleyPlaceDub70]

Just like the Corkies down in their Queens Market 👍🏻

[@daveeol1987]

​@AnnesleyPlaceDub70 cork also known as the rebel county for more or less winning the war of independence single handed while the dubs had those jackeens waving. Its all about timing lad

[@eoghancarpenter8546]

​@@daveeol1987The squad would like to have a word....

[@daveeol1987]

@eoghancarpenter8546 what 10 dubs run by a corkman compared to hundreds of men in flying columns. Doesn't really compare does it

[@eoghancarpenter8546]

@daveeol1987 I'm no Dub but like it or not they wiped out the Intelligence service in Ireland giving us a fighting chance

[@seamusphelan228]

The Kilkenny Cats. That also came from medieval times. It’s gruesome though.
There was two cats from Kilkenny.
Each thought that there was one too many.
They fought and the slit.
They scratched and they bit, till in the end there wasn’t any.
That came from a brutal medieval blood sport. Two Tom cats were tied by their tails to a line just near enough for either of them to strike at each other. Far more brutal than dog fighting or cock fighting. It wasn’t an original Celtic sport but had been imported from Europe as Kilkenny was a very cosmopolitan city in medieval times.
Now we’ll go on to the Goose Milkers, The Heron Stranglers, The Sheep Stealers, The Stone throwers, Cute Cork Hoords, Tunnel Tigers, Jackeens an the Mane Caavan B^$t€rd$.
Niall Ó Toibáin got it right. Quote: “Ireland so the geographers tell us, is a land 350miles long and 150 miles thick. 😂😂😂 in among that space we have many peoples species and sub species……””. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 the ability of us Irish ☘️ to laugh at ourselves gives us the strength when others mock us. 😂😂🤣🤣🤣☘️🇮🇪

[@Kitiwake]

Clare after the victories at Ramillies and Fontenoy, no?

[@keelanmurphy9941]

Wait a minute, Clontarf's in Dublin, what does Clare have to do with it?

[@stockroomtim]

Brian Boru, the high king of ireland was killed in battle there. He hurled for Smyth O'briens as a younglad

[@garybyrne4663]

Green, white and orange

[@bilboabbans]

Laois is the queens county

[@brianhardrada1297]

Queens as is gay men, 😂😂

[@Tafuh4510]

Northern Ireland

[@johnobrien717]

Co. Kerry
The kingdom GOD , and the kingdom of kerry.
❤😁👍

[@Shay-bp7yt]

Im not Tir Connel , im Inishowen. The o doherty clan. Inishowen need its own county.

[@johnmc3862]

Lol! Johnny Doherty was from Ardara.

[@heffo67]

Offaly wear green, white and gold. The Irish tricolour is green, white and orange, there is no connection.

[@Dabhach1]

The "ZEEbras?"

[@mf390]

Will you stop saying gaa like some young calf calling its mother. Its G A A

[@daveeol1987]

Are you irish?

[@mf390]

@@daveeol1987 Why do you ask?

[@daveeol1987]

@@mf390 because anyone who is irish says gaa unless your a prod

[@johnmc3862]

​@@daveeol1987😅😅😅