Martin O'Reilly (1829–1904) was a blind Irish piper. Although associated with east

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

in some sources, O'Reilly was born in Galway City, living at the junction of Eyre Street and Suckeen (now St. Brendan's Avenue). At one stage he became step-father to the piper John Moore (1834–87), as he married the boy's mother when her first husband died. He also taught the piper Peter Kelly and 'Old' John Potts (father of Tommy Potts). He kept a dance hall in the Suckeen for some years before it was forcibly closed by a local priest.

Francis O'Neill Francis O'Neill (; August 28, 1848 – January 26, 1936) was an Irish-born American police officer and collector of Irish traditional music. His biographer Nicholas Carolan referred to him as "the greatest individual influence on the evolution ...

who published a short biography of him in 1913 wrote that "Sightless and old and unable to make a living by other means than music, he was obliged, like many another unfortunate Irish minstrel, to take refuge in the poorhouse as his only escape from starvation". The intervention of the

Gaelic League (; historically known in English as the Gaelic League) is a social and cultural organisation which promotes the Irish language in Ireland and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1893 with Douglas Hyde as its first president, when it eme ...

caused him to participate in the Feis Ceol of 1901 in Dublin, where he won first prize in the piper's competition. His performance - under the heading ''Large Concert Hall of the Rotunda'' - was described in a Dublin newspaper as follows:

"A notable incident was the playing of Mr. Martin O’Reilly, who played a selection entitled “The Battle of Aughrim,” descriptive of the advance, the trumpets of the British, the battle onslaught of the Irish soldiers, and the wail of the women. Aughrim was of course a lost field, but, nothing daunted, the gallant old piper, throbbing with a spirit that might long to play his countrymen into battle, fired them with a stirring and strident version of the victorious march of Brian Boru".

Following this he performed at a number of concerts in various towns around Ireland, such as the Belfast Harp Festival of 1903. A photograph was taken of him by a Father Fielding in Dublin, which in 1907 became the frontispiece for ''O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland''. O'Reilly however ended up back in the poorhouse, in

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 2,800 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 road (Ireland), R458 and R460 ...

, where he died in 1904.

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* http://www.sin.ie/cms/view/1516/ {{DEFAULTSORT:OReilly, Martin 1829 births 1904 deaths 19th-century Irish male musicians Musicians from Galway (city) Irish male uilleann pipers Irish blind musicians 19th-century Irish uilleann pipers 1870s in Irish music 1880s in Irish music 1890s in Irish music 1900s in Irish music

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