From Armagh we cross into the Republic of Ireland to County Monaghan. Now Monaghan and County Cavan are two of three counties that belong to the historic province of Ulster that did not get included in the modern entity of Northern Ireland when the country was split in two in 1922 (the other being County Donegal). These two Counties are not really on the way from anywhere to anywhere else and are relatively sparsely populated. In fact, they might be the only two counties in Ireland that I have never visited and I have never met anybody from Monaghan to my knowledge. I can't help wonder if these places actually exist or if they just filled a blank spot on the map. It's kind of my 'Terra incognita' in Ireland. In fact there seems to be so little happening in Monaghan that on a list of top attractions in the county according to TripAdvisor, this hardware shop comes in at number 8:
Later edit (May 2022): In the meantime I have ventured out and confirmed that Co. Monaghan actually does exist and is not some kind of Bermuda Triangle. This is a picture of Lough Muckno next to Castleblaney from a quick day trip yesterday:
...and you can buy some Big Tom souvenirs in the town...
So consequently I had some difficulty finding some good music originating from the area. Monaghan's most famous musical son appears to be a guy called Big Tom, who died last April. Here's him singing a song about his home town of Castleblaney...
No, I don't like this much either, we'll move on swiftly. There have been a number of songs written which do mention places in Co. Monaghan.
This is a song called Little Hills of Monaghan by a band called Cornerboys in the Cosy. Well actually it looks just like a session in a pub called The Cosy in Monaghan.
The final song for Monaghan is actually written by Tommy Makem of Armagh whom we met in my last post, but it does mention Crossmaglen and Ballybay, both Monaghan towns. It is performed by Finbar and Eddie Furey of Dublin fame and can be found on their album I Live Not Where I Love.
For County Cavan I found Luke Ward, a Cavan man playing the bouzouki, accompanying Donegal man Martin Tourish on accordeon. It's called Cavan Cowboys and is published on their album Clan Ranald.
Also from Cavan there is the powerful voice of Lisa O'Neill lamenting the lack of public transport in the county with No Train to Cavan from the album Same Cloth or Not:
Finally, even if you plan to take your car to Cavan, beware of the potholes. This is a tune played by Sharon Shannon from County Clare from her album Sharon Shannon and Alan O'Connor in Galway.
Next up is County Meath. As usual you can follow my virtual travels on this map.
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