Faly

The Falys were the O'Connor Falys, the ruling dynasty of the Gaelic kingdom of Uí Failghe, whose name survives in County Offaly. Tradition traced the kingdom to the legendary king Rus Failge of the early sixth century. From the mid-eleventh century its rulers bore the O'Connor Faly surname, though they were no kin to the O'Connors of Connacht.

Their seat moved from Rathangan to the island fortress of Daingean when the Normans arrived. They long kept their independence, and by the early sixteenth century the men of Meath and Kildare paid them yearly black rent.

Brian O'Connor Faly, lord from about 1520, raided the English Pale for decades before surrendering in 1548; he escaped the Tower of London but died in Dublin Castle in 1560. The Settlement of Laois and Offaly Act of 1556 partitioned the old kingdom, ending the independent lordship.