McGovern’s

The title most players use today comes from the Sligo fiddler Paddy Killoran, who recorded the reel in June 1939 as "McGovern's Favourite" (backed with "Tom Ward's Downfall"). The melody is older and turns up in the print collections under names that give no hint of this one: O'Neill printed it as "Maurice Casey's Fancy," while Joyce, Goodman and Roche all carry it as "The Cottage in the Grove." Killoran (1903–1965) was one of the south Sligo fiddlers, with Michael Coleman and James Morrison, who carried this music onto 78s in New York, and the name he gave it has stuck.