The Fermoy Lasses

Traditional Irish Reel in E minor
Also known as: The Connacht Rangers
TrailJams Tune of the Week: June 22, 2025.

This traditional Irish reel has a charming drive and swing to it. Its basic melody invites ornamentation (especially triplets) and variation. Its A part is in E minor, its B part in G major. The town of Fermoy is on the River Blackwater, in east County Cork, Ireland.

Recordings

• Video – Arcady: Toss the Feathers / The Fermoy Lasses / The Man of the House – from the album Many Happy Returns. (The Fermoy Lasses starts at time 0:34 in this recording.)
• Video – John Whelan: Fermoy Lasses / The Old High Reel (Medley) – from the album Come to the Dance. The tunes in the medley are: Fermoy Lasses / Julie Delaney / Dowd’s No. 9.
• Video – Preston Wilde: Fermoy Lasses / The Boy in the Gap – uilleann pipe solo (Portland, Oregon). Fermoy Lasses is pitched a semitone lower than Em in this recording.

Sheet Music

As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference. The version of the tune here is the basic tune without ornamentation. It is often played with an ample amount of triplets, as you can hear in the example recordings of the tune. (The tutorial for this tune in TrailJams Tune Camp has versions of the tune with and without triplets.)

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• Fermoy Lasses Reel Set: The Galway Rambler (G) / The Fermoy Lasses (Em) / The Boys of Malin (A)
• Fermoy Lasses / Reconciliation / The Galway Rambler
• Fermoy Lasses / The Boy in the Gap
• Holly Bush / Fermoy Lasses / Sporting Paddy
• Fermoy Lasses / Sporting Paddy
• The Sally Gardens / The Fermoy Lasses

References and Resources

For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.

• More Recordings
  • Video – Joe Green (Dulahan Ireland) – The Fermoy Lasses – solo tenor banjo. (Dulahan is the duo of Joe and Adele Green, County Mayo, Ireland.)
  • Video – Comhaltas: Fermoy Lasses – session recording from the album Foinn Seisiún 3. In this recording the tune is played as a single reel, with the A part and B part of the tune played just once
  • Video – Shannon & Matt Heaton: July 17 Virtual Guided Session (Sally Gardens / Fermoy Lasses) – played on flute with backing guitar. Streamed live on July 17, 2023. (The Fermoy Lasses starts at time 33:03 in this recording.)
• Books
  • Book & Audio – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes
  • Book – Comhaltas: Foinn Seisiún, Volume 3 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
  • Book – Carla Chandler: 1100 Irish Tunes By Eye and By Ear – eBook published by “By Eye and By Ear Books”, Reno, Nevada, USA. ISBN 979-8-9869401-0-6. Provided by the author as a free downloadable PDF file.
• Lessons
  • Lesson – Stephen Ducke (Tradschool) Fermoy Lasses (Reel) – Part 1 of 2 – Tin Whistle Tutorial – from the book Irish Music – 400 Traditional Tunes. Also see Part 2 of 2.
  • Lesson – Carrickfergus Trad CTMS: Fermoy Lasses – Video of tune accompaniment played on piano, with sheet music displayed.
  • Lesson – Hatao (hatao’s Irish tune of the day): 329 The Fermoy Lasses (Double Reel, Em) – the tune played on flute, slow and faster. Sheet music displayed in video.
• Additional Resources
  • Web page – The Session: The Fermoy Lasses – crowdsourced sheet music, comments and more