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LAOIS or Leix, county was long known as Queen's county. The slight notices by Ptolemy respecting the interior of Ireland lead to the inference that this county was inhabited by the Brigantes; but Whitaker asserts that the Scoti were the first settlers in it. Afterwards it was divided into Leix, which comprehended all of that part of the county contained within the river Barrow to the north and east, the Noir to the south, and the Slieve Bloom mountains to the west; and Ossory, which included the remainder. So early in the middle of the 3rd century the latter of these divisions, with parts of the adjoining counties, was ranked as a kingdom, and annexed by Conary, King of Ireland, to his native dominion of Munster, instead of being, as formerly, attached to Leinster. Subsequent passages of history prove it to have been a district of considerable importance. When Malachy was forming a confederacy of all the native princes against the Danes, the king of Ossory was specially required to conclude a peace with the people of the northern half of the island, in order that all should be at liberty to act against the common enemy; and in the time of Cormac Mac Culinan he had the command of the first division of that monarch's army in his unjust and unfortunate invasion of Leinster, and fell in the battle of Maghailbe, in which Cormac himself was slain. His dominions were afterwards disposed of by Flan, King of Ireland. Both Leix and Ossory were visited by St. Patrick. In the war waged by Roderic O'Conor, King of Ireland, against Dermod Mac Murrough, King of Leinster, which led to the invasion of Ireland under Strongbow, the king of Ossory was one of the princes who were specially summoned by the former of those potentates. The O'More were the principal dynast of the territory of Leix, and the Mac Gillypatricks or Fitzpatricks were the kings of Ossory at that time.
Muscraige, Corco Duibne, Corco Baiscind and Dal Riata, who descend from three sons of Conaire Mor ( c. A.D. 165), named Cairpre Musc, Cairpre Baschain and Cairpre Riata. These four septs of the Érainn are claimed to have anciently migrated from Breg in the north of Ireland to Munster in the south. The Dal Riata migrated to the northeast corner of Ireland at a very early time, eventually founding a dynasty in Scotland. Muscraige, anglicized Muskerry, was the name for various groups and regions in Munster. Osraige was part of Munster province during early Medieval times.
Ua Donnocáin (e.g. O'Donegan) is cited in the Annals as a king of Múscraige Mittaine in the late 11th century, and MacLysaght (More Irish Families) notes that O'Donegan's country was the alias for Múscraige Tri Maighe. MacLysaght goes on to note that the territory of the O'Donegans of Tri Maighe passed into the possession of the Norman Barry family in the 13th century; the O'Donegans of Aradh (Ara) in Múscraige Tíre became dispersed by the O'Briens whose chief there became Mac I Brien Ara; and the O'Donegans in south-west Cork (perhaps Múscraighe Mittaine) became tributary to O'Sullivan Beare. The various Ua Donnocáins in Munster,and elsewhere, may have translated into later surnames such as Donegan, Dunnigan, Dunagan, Dunegan, Dungan, etc.
Ua Fuirg is a sept noted as lords of Uí -Furgo (Uí Forgo or Cenél Forgo) in the Annals. O'Hart (Pedigrees) anglicizes Ua Fuirg, or O'Fuirig, as O'Furey. John O'Donovan places the Uí Forgo near the eastern border of Lough Derg in Múscraige Tíre. This area (Ardcrony) was (later?) the seate of the chief of the dalcassian O Hogans, i.e. Ó hOgáin, claiming descent from Ógán who was descended from the uncle of Brian Boru.
It appears uncertain from Ptolemy's statement what tribe inhabited the LONGFORD portion of the island in his time. It was afterwards known by the name Anale or Annaly, and was the principality of the O'Farrels, or O'Ferrals, which family was afterwards divided into two main branches, O'Farrel Buy or the Yellow, which held the southern part of the county, and O'Farrel Ban or the White, which possessed the northern portion. The family of O'Cuin also had a small territory here, of which Rathcline castle of the head quarters and chief fortress. Feargal, chief of this country, was defeated in 960 by Mahon, prince of Thomond, on the banks of the Inny, near its influx into Lough Ree, to which place the latter had ascended by the Shannon with a number of small vessel; but this event produced no territorial changes. Previously to the arrival of the English, Annaly was included in the province of Meath and as such formed the grant made by Henry II to Hugh de Lacy.
Tuadh Mumhan came into prominence as a separate region within the province of Mumhan (Mumu, Mumhain, et al) in conjunction with a rise in power of the Dál gCais. An ancient origin tradition of the Dál gCais connect them to the Déis Becc (aka Déis Tuaiscirt), a branch of the Déisi who conquered the Thomond region from the Connachta in the 5th century. The Dál gCais initially gained supremacy in the Munster region during the 10th and 11th centuries. Mathghamhain and Brian Boru, both sons of Cinneide (or Cendétigh), were among the first of the Dál gCais (Dalcassian) who became kings of Munster during this timeframe. The diocese of Killaoe, which was first established at the Synod of Rathbresail in 1111, is often given as "coterminous with the boundaries of the ancient kingdom of Thomond." At that time Killaloe was an area held by the Dál gCais and those most closely 'tributary' to them. This included the territory of the Dál gCais, Corco Baiscinn, Aradh, Múscraige Tíre, and much of Uaithne and Éile .
Éile or Ely, branching out of the race of Cian, son of Oilill Olum, the Clan Cian is found anciently in the territory of h-Éile Muman, among other places. A main branch descends from Cearbhal, lord of Ely, who was descended from Oilioll Olum. Various septs are noted of Éile (Ely). The Ely O'Fogarty region formed the southern portion of a more extended territory simply referred to as Éile (Ely).
There are frequent references to "Tuadh Mumhan" in the Irish Annals beginning in the latter 11th century, but as a separate entity representing all of northern Munster an entry for the yeare 1118 seems to mark a milestone event. In that year, a treaty at Gleann Maidhir (Glanmire) divided the Kingdom of Munster into northern (Tuadh Mumhan) and southern (Des Mumhan) halves, a division apparently running near the border of modern counties Limerick and Cork. The entry in the Annals for 1118 reads, " A hosting by Toirdhealbhach Ua Conchobhair, king of Connacht, and by Murchadh O Maelsechlainn, king of Temhair, along with him, and by Aed O'Ruairc, into Mumha, as far as Glenn-Maghair; and he gave Des-Mumha to Mac Carthaigh, and Tuadh-Mumha to the sons of Diarmaid Ua Briain, and carried off the hostages of each."
With this 12th century division of Munster into two parts, Thomond included the area about the diocese of Killaloe, and additionally encompassed the traditional territorites of Úi Fidgeinti, Uí Chonaill Gabra, Eóghanacht Áine, Éile , Corco Mruadh, the tribes of Uaithne (later held by the Síl Cennétich, and much of Eóghanacht Caisel and Ciarraige Luachra.
Although there is no mention of OFFALY by Ptolemy, it has been concluded that this county formed part of the territory denominated Hy Falgia, which also included Meath, Westmeath, Dublin and Kildare. It was also included, together with the Queen's county, Dublin and Kildare, under the denomination of Hy Laighois, the chieftain of which territory resided at Dunamase, in the Queen's county. Afterwards, this territory, or as some say, the southern part of it only, was included in the district of Eile, or Hy Leigh, comprehending also the western part of the Queen's county, and the northern part of Tipperary. That district was afterwards divided into three principalities, each under its own chieftain; one of which , forming the southern portion of the King's county [aka Offaly], and lying westward of the Slieve Bloom mountains, obtained the name of Eile in Chearbhuil, or "the plain near the rock," afterwards corrupted into Ely O'Carroll, the chiefs of which were called O'Carroll, and under them was a subordinate dynast, named O'Delany, who ruled over a district in the south, denominated Dal leagh nui, or "the district of the flat country." These principalities, with more northern parts of the present Offaly county, occupied by the Mac Coghlans, O'Molys, and O'Conors, were afterwards united into one kingdom, under the ancient title of the kingdom of Hy Falgis, or Offalia, which comprehended also part of the county of Kildare, and the lands of the O'Dempsies and O'Duins, in the Queen's county. It retained this title for several centuries after the landing of the English, and included a smaller territory, called Hy Bressail.