Goll mac Morna

Goll mac Mórna, enemy of Fionn mac Cumhaill in the Fionn cycle. His name (meaning ‘one-eyed’) links him with Balor of the Fomoiri [see Cath Maige Tuired].

Also known as Áed or Aodh mac Fidga. Leader of the Connacht Fianna in the Fenian Cycle, adversary and later sometime colleague of Fionn mac Cumhaill. Goll led the killers of Cumall, Fionn's father, at the Battle of Cnucha [Fotha Catha Chnucha] at Castleknock in modern Co. Dublin, and thus wrested control of the Fianna of all Ireland. As he lost an eye in this encounter, ‘Goll’ may be a nickname and Áed [Irish, fire] the original name. Goll gave up his command of the Fianna in favour of Fionn when the young hero slew the mysterious ‘burner’, Aillén mac Midgna, at Tara. Unlikely as it may seem, Goll and Fionn were temporarily close allies. He freed Fionn's poet Fergus Fínbél from an enchanted cave. When Goll rescued Fionn from the depredations of Conarán's daughters, he was rewarded with the hand of Fionn's daughter Cainche; other texts name Scandlach as Goll's wife. Goll is sometimes the brother of the boisterous Conán Máel or mac Morna. Numerous later narratives describe a rising feud between Fionn's people, the Clan Baíscne, Goll's Clan Morna, with dozens of different pretexts. Some versions assert that Goll killed Cairell, Fionn's son. Others describe Fionn or one of Fionn's retainers killing Goll. Later Goll's grandson Fer Lí attempts to avenge Goll by attacking Fionn, but only wounds him and is killed himself.

Modern commentators explain the seemingly odd motivation in Goll's character, as well as the proliferation of variant text, by arguing that he originated at a different time and place from Fionn and was later synchronized with the larger Fenian canon. T. F. O'Rahilly (1946) argued that his original name, Áed, identifies him with Aillén mac Midgna, the ‘burner’, a sun-deity and lord of the Otherworld; thus the Fionn-Goll/Áed contest parallels that of Cúchulainn-*Goll mac Carbada and Lug Lámfhota-Balor.