Kilconnell

Kilconnell stood in the O'Kelly territory of Uí Maine in eastern Connacht, close to the road between Athlone and Galway. Its Franciscan friary was founded under O'Kelly patronage between the mid-fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The family continued to support it: William Mór O'Kelly and his wife presented a chalice in 1409, and Malachy O'Kelly promoted Observant reform and substantial rebuilding during the fifteenth century.

The friary's later history combined military occupation with continued religious life. Royal troops held it in 1596, yet permitted the friars to remain and celebrate mass. In 1654 valuable objects, including medieval altar plate, were sent to Louvain for safekeeping. The community sought their return in 1687. Franciscans continued working in the surrounding area through much of the eighteenth century, although their occupation of the original buildings was interrupted. Two were recorded at Monabraithre in 1709 and ten in 1766. By about 1801 the last friar appears to have departed, leaving a long connection between local patronage, worship and family burial.