The O’Murchadha name appears to have been less common in Connacht than in other parts of Ireland, and that is still generally true today.
In his 1923 work, Sloinnte, however, Rev. P. Woulfe referred to Murphys “of a family of the Uí Fiachrach who were chiefs of a district on the southern shore of Sligo Bay, now comprised of the parishes of Skreen and Templeboy but were dispossessed and dispersed in the 13th century.”
The Eneclann index of Griffith’s Valuation shows a small number (70) of property owning Murphys in Sligo in the mid 19th century. However a good portion of those remaining resided still on the southern shore of Sligo Bay, reinforcing Woulfe’s claims for the area.
Also in in northwest Sligo, another Uí Murchadha sept lived in a territory known as Borrach, near Killala Bay, according to Daithí Ó hÓgáin (Irish Family Names: Murphy, 2003).
Edward MacLysaght (Surnames, 1985) refers to an area of West Roscommon, (which appears to be Tibohine, near Frenchpark), as the location of an O’Murphy sept. between the 12th and 17th centuries. Indeed there is a townland here known as Ballymacmurragh, or Baile Mhic Mhurchadha.
These Murphys do not appear to have any direct connection with the great Uí Murchadha families of Leinster, Ulster or Munster.
Murphys of Connacht
Blackrock Lighthouse, Sligo Bay. Photo: Anna Pringle