Known mostly as the author of lyrics for popular ballads: ‘Follow me up to Carlow’, “The Boys of Wexford”, ‘Boolavogue’ and ‘Kelly the Boy from Killanne’.

He was assisted in putting the Wexford ballads, dealing with the 1798 Rising, to music by Arthur Warren Darley using traditional Irish airs. His surname is one of the many anglicisations of the Irish surname Mac Cathmhaoil, a family that were chieftains of Kinel Farry (Clogher area) in Tír Eoghain, Ulster.