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SAL ÓG RUA
She was born in Inishkea around 1804 and it is believed her mother was Dunbar and her father Walsh. Sals mother died when she was very young and sadly her father was seemingly drowned when she was 11 years old. She had two older brothers, who took great care of her and they took her to the mainland every time they had any business to do.
One day she was at the fair with the two brothers, which would have been in Beal Dorach (near Cross Abbey) or even Binghamstown where the fair days were held before they moved to the newly built town of Belmullet in the early 1840's. There they met a young sheep buyer from Islandeady and when he had bought the sheep from Sal og's brothers, he introduced himself to Sal and then turned around and said to the brothers he wanted to marry their sister and take her back with him to Islandeady. She was only 16 years old at the time but whatever arrangements he made with the two brothers they consented and asked Salog would she like to marry this man whose name was John McHugh, very soon they were married and lived happily in Islandeady. The two brothers went back to the island heartbroken but believed it was to give Salog a better life. They only met John McHugh on rare occasions after that and he always assured them their sister was fine and they had three young children at that stage after the last meeting.
Shortly after that they got news somehow that she had died in her early 20's,by 1824 he had been taken to court on suspicion of her death but after sometime it was found she died of a natural death, then the song reached Erris and in those days it was brought by the travelling folk singers, musicians and storytellers of the road that’s how the song came to be popular in this area in olden times and it was always known locally here as Oileán Éadaí (Islandeady) however, the song is more widely known and made popular by Connemara singers in recent times as Sal óg Rua. She was brought up in Inishkea as Sal óg Rua which translates as young red haired Sal because she was named after one of her elders (maybe her mother or aunt or even a grandmother.
When the brothers heard of their sisters death, they left Inishkea in anger and set out for revenge and when they got to Islandeady they soon found out where John McHugh lived and waited until nightfall before approaching the house, when they were coming close to the backdoor they heard him singing that song then they decided to take a look in the window and there he was sitting by the fire singing the song to his three small children, they listened and watched and then left discreetly and left him and the children alone and it was always believed that he composed that song in memory of his wife to comfort the children.
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