Fil, fil a rún ó
Fil a rún ó is ná himigh uaim
Fillorm a chuisle's a stór,
Agus chifidh tú 'n ghlóir má fhillean tú

Shúil mise thall is abhus
I móta ghrainn' óige do rudagh mé
'S ni fhaca aon iontas go fóill
Mar an sagart Ó Dónaill 'na mhinistir.

Fil, fil a rún ó
fil a rún ó is ná himigh uaim
Fillorm a chuisle's a stór,
Agus chifidh tú 'n ghlóir má fhillean tú.

Dhiúltaigh tú Peadar is Pól
Mar gheall ar an ór's ar an airgead;
Dhúiltaigh tú banrion na glóire
Agus d'iompaigh tú i gcóta 'n mhinistir.

Fil, Fil a rún ó,
fil a rún ó is ná himigh uaim
Má fhillean tú innui nó go deo
Fil insan ord 'nar oileadh tú.


My question is, what does the last line of the last verse mean, "Agus d'iompaigh tú i gcóta an mhinistir." - does it mean that the person in question, the mother's son, has become a Protestant minister and abandoned the priesthood? That's the sense I get from this.

You were right in thinking that. It means that he's a turncoat (quite literally).

Crádh ort a Dhoiminic Uí Dhomhnaill
Nach mairg a riamh a chonaic thú
Bhí tú 'do shagart Dé Domhnaigh
'S ar maidin Dé Luain 'do mhinistir.

Nuair a bhéas tú in Ifrionn go fóill
agus na deora ag sileadh leat
sin an áit a bhfuifg tú na sgéala
Cia 'ca 's fearr sagart nó ministir.
( these verses are surely part of the piece above)
O Donnell was a priest of Raphoe who turned Protestant and this poem is attributed to his mother.
Source ; Maureen Wall,the Penal Laws,1691-1760.

Ba as an Iarmhí an mháthair '.. i Móta Ghráinne Óig a rugadh mé, ...'

Is dóigh go bhféadfaí 'nua-Chonallach' a thabhairt uirthi, in áit 'úr-Chonallach', ar mhaithe le cruinneas mar a déarfá, agus b'fhéidir leis, 'nuamhinistir' a thabhairt air féin, mmm, - tharla nár mhinistir ó dhúchas é!

Cá bhfuil 'Móta Gráinne Óig ' anois (i mBéarla?) Bhím i mo cónai san Iarmhi fado.(Castlepollard)

My next question is, can Cara Dillon's pronunciation of this song be trusted to learn from? It's on her album "Hill of Thieves", but I don't think she is a native speaker of Irish.

My next question is, can Cara Dillon's pronunciation of this song be trusted to learn from? It's on her album "Hill of Thieves", but I don't think she is a native speaker of Irish.

While we wait for an answer on Cara Dillon's status as an Irish speaker [I haven't heard her] it's worth considering how much of the real sense of our history at 'ground level' is understood by historians who have no Irish themselves or scarcely acknowledge its existence at all. And yet some of the best known and 'authoritative' works on Irish history were written by just such people. We haven't fully emerged from our colonial cringe yet.

Seanfhear

give me some examples ^ ?

Historicaly and a sizeable amount of modern historians/lecturers have irish (in relation to the % of irish speakers)

plus

a non native speakers pronunciation can be trusted