Rallies

The Clan on Home Ground

The O'Dubhda Rallies

Thirty-five years of the clan gathering back in north Connacht — from the first hosting in 1990 to the Silver Jubilee of the Inauguration in 2025.

Begin with 1990 →
How the Rallies Began

A homecoming four centuries in the making

For nearly four hundred years after the fall of the Gaelic order, no O'Dubhda Taoiseach walked the old ground as chief, and no clan gathering met in the O'Dubhda homeland. The last inauguration at Carn Amhalghaidh was in 1595. Afterwards, the family scattered — to Mayo, to Dublin, to America, to Australia, to every port that would take a ship.

The thread never quite broke. Gertie Mac Hale's husband, Tomás Mac Héil, gathered the scattered stories in his 1971 book Stories from O'Dowda's Country — a small volume, published in Enniscrone, that reminded the clan that it still had a country. Nineteen years later, Gertie and a handful of neighbours decided the book was not enough. The O'Dubhda needed to come home in person.

In July 1990 the first Clan Rally opened in Enniscrone. A rowan sapling was planted at the castle — a deliberate echo of the Rowan of Dubhros, the sacred tree at the heart of the oldest clan legend. That small ceremony began the tradition this page records: every two or three years since, O'Dubhdas have gathered in the family's ancient territory to walk the sites, hear the history, and — from 2000 onwards — to inaugurate a new chieftain on the old inauguration mound.

What follows is the timeline of those gatherings, in order.

Thirty-five Years

The Rallies, in Order

Fifteen gatherings between 1990 and 2025 — click any year to read that rally's story.

The Next Gathering

The 2028 Rally

Dates are locked in for 3rd – 8th October 2028 in Enniscrone, with a new base at the Diamond Coast Hotel. The rally will close Taoiseach Sean's three-year term and see the inauguration of his successor. A planning committee is at work — full programme and registration open in early 2028.

See the 2028 Rally page or write to info@odubhda.org.

Further Reading

Sources & Further Exploration

Definitive Account

The O'Dubhda Gatherings: A History

Thomas J Dowds (forthcoming)

The working manuscript from which the rally summaries on this page are drawn. Full publication forthcoming.

Foundational

Stories from O'Dowda's Country

Tomás Mac Héil (ed.), Enniscrone 1971

The small volume that gathered the scattered stories and set the stage for the 1990 rally.

Online Archive

odubhdaclan.com

Legacy clan site maintained from the 1990s onwards

Per-year reports and photographs from many rallies, preserved for reference. Visit the archive →

For related context see also the rite of inauguration, the ancient and sacred sites, and the castles of the O'Dubhda.

Begin the Story

Start with the first Rally, July 1990

The first hosting of the clan on home ground in three hundred and ninety-five years.

Read the 1990 Rally →

Please note: This website is under construction with the intent to go live on October 7th at the O'Dubhda clan reunion this year (2025). For more details please see the official current site here: https://odubhdaclan.com/