Updated 14 September 2024 To help find family connections for the Ancient BREIFNE Clans of all spelling and variations. By joining the group you agree to provide the project with 3 things. 1) The surname of the person being tested. 2) The name, date and place of birth of the oldest researched male ancestor of your male patrilineal line and the oldest researched female ancestor of your matrilineal line. 3) Permission to publish the DNA results and the names, dates and places of birth of the oldest known patrilineal or matrilineal ancestor. Counties Cavan & Leitrim plus bits of adjoining counties constituted the area of the Kingdom of Breifne, which was in the early 12th century coextensive with the Catholic Diocese of Kilmore. The goal of this project is to establish Y-DNA profiles for the early Breifne Clans. The O'Rourkes were the kings of Breifne, but were eventually forced to split the kingdom with the O'Reillys. Some other prominent pre-14th century clans were MacBrady, Magauran/McGovern, MacKiernan, O'Donohoe, O'Farrelly, MacIlduff, O'Boylan, O'Drum, O'Meehan, MacGoldrick, MacClancy, O'Curneen, MacConsnave (Ford), O'Mulvey, MacRannall (Reynolds), MacShanly etc. Some later arrivals were O'Clery (Clarke), O'Curry, MacCabe, Donaghy, MacDonough, MacGuire, MacManus etc. MacGowan (Smith) probably had multiple origins. Preliminary results for the Donohoes indicates that outside lineages of the same name came into Breifne, but it is not yet known if that is also true of other surnames of the area.