"Miss Monaghan’s Reel", in Gaelic "Ingean Uí Muineacan", "Iníon Uí Mhuimhneacháin" or "Ingean Ni Muineacain" is also known as "The Barrow Castle", "The Blea-Berry Blossom", "Connacht Lasses", "The Connacht Star", "The Dandy Girl", "The Dandy Lass", "The Dandy Lasses", "The Four Courts of Dublin", "Jackson's Welcome to Cork", "Johnny Shooting in the Glen", "Kerry Star", "Lamont’s Reel", "Mel Roddy’s Tune", "The Music Club", "O'Connell in Clare", "Shannon’s Shores", "Stormy Weather" or "The White Haired Piper" is an Irish reel in D Major. The parts are played ABC (O'Neill), AABB (most versions), AA’BB’ (Armagh Pipers) or ABCDEF (Breathnach).
"Miss Monaghan’s" is one variant of a large family of inter-related tunes that share melodic themes and general contour. The earliest appearance of the tune under this title is in Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman’s (1828-1896) mid-19th century music manuscript collection. Goodman, an Irish speaker and uilleann piper, collected from tradition in County Cork and elsewhere in Munster, although he also obtained tunes from manuscripts and printed sources.
Fintan Vallely, in his book Blooming Meadows (1998), relates that the famous piper and collector Séamus Ennis particularly relished playing this tune (and recorded it several times) as his mother was from County Monaghan. Some see similarities between this reel and the American tune "Johnny Don't Get Drunk".
The first sound recording of "Miss Monaghan" was by uileann piper Patsy Touhey, on home cylinder recordings made by Captain Francis O'Neill, 1902-1904.
It was printed in Armagh Piper’s Club's Play 50 Reels (1982), Breathnach's CRÉ III (1985), Brody's Fiddler’s Fakebook (1983), Cotter's Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor (1989), Flaherty's Trip to Sligo (1990), Giblin's Collection of Traditional Irish Dance Music (1928), Mallinson's 100 Essential (1995), McDermott's Allan's Irish Fiddler (c. 1920), O'Neill's O’Neill’s Irish Music (1915), O'Neill's Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies (1903), O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), Roche's Collection of Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1 (1912), Shields's Tunes of the Munster Pipers (1998), Songer's Portland Collection (1997) and Taylor's Music for the Sets: Yellow Book (1995).
It was recorded by Peter Horan & Gerry Harrington on The Merry Love to Play (2007), Dominic Rushe (Gorthaganny, Co. Mayo, d. 1994) on The Coleman Archive, vol. 2: The Home Place (2005), Brenden Mulvihill on The Flax in Bloom, Joe Shannon and Johnny McGreevy on The Noonday Feast, Seamus Ennis on Forty Years of Irish Piping (1977), Fennigs All Star String Band on Fennigmania (1981), The Tannahill Weavers on Choice Cuts 1987-1996, Leo Rowsome and His Irish Pipers Band (1937), Shaskeen on My Love is in America and Kerry Elkin on Soir et Matin (1990).