Oasis Croke Park: Explained - The deep Irish heritage of Liam and Noel Gallagher

Irish Daily Mirror

3 days ago

Oasis are set to hit the stage in Dublin's Croke Park on August 16 and 17 in front of an excited sold-out crowd on both nights.
Ahead of the gigs, their deep Irish roots, shaped by summers in Mayo and Meath and lifelong family bonds, have been explored by Irish Heritage, who traced back the Gallagher brothers' deep Irish genealogy.
Born in Manchester to Irish Catholic working-class parents, the Gallagher brothers are the sons of Margaret 'Peggy' Sweeney from Charlestown, Co. Mayo and Thomas 'Tommy' Gallagher from Duleek, Co. Meath.
In the early 1960s, Peggy Sweeney and Tommy Gallagher were among thousands of Irish emigrants who moved to Manchester, drawn by a boom in the city's construction industry. Liam Gallagher and his mother, Peggy
The pair met for the first time in Manchester. Peggy and Tommy's first child was Paul, followed by Noel, born on 29 May, 1967 and then William 'Liam' on 21 September, 1972.
The Gallagher family lived in a council estate and were part of Manchester's vibrant working-class Irish community.
Several of Peggy's sisters and brothers also settled in the same part of Manchester, creating a tight-knit family network.
The boys attended Catholic schools and Noel even played Gaelic football in his teenage years.
Their marriage was troubled and Tommy left the family when the boys were still young, becoming estranged from his children in later years. Tommy Gallagher, father of Noel and Liam (Image: Matthew Pover)
Growing up, Noel and Liam's mother was the central figure in their lives and the strongest influence in shaping their Irish sense of identity.
A spokesman for Irish Heritage said: 'All the individuals we researched in Noel and Liam's family tree were Roman Catholic.
'Certain lines on both the maternal and paternal sides of the family can be traced back to the rockstar brothers' great-great-great-grandparents.
'Most of Liam and Noel's ancestors on the maternal side of the family tree were from the Charlestown and Swinford areas of east Mayo. A number of them spoke Irish in addition to English.
'The surname Sweeney, along with its variants MacSweeny, MacSwiney and Swiney, derives from the Irish Mac Suibhne.
'Historically linked with the Scottish Gallowglasses who settled in Co. Donegal, it is now a common name throughout Ireland, particularly in Cork and Kerry.'
"William 'Bill' Sweeney was Noel and Liam Gallagher's maternal grandfather. In 1938, he married Margaret O'Brien in Charlestown's parish church in Co. Mayo. At the time, William was living in Ballaghaderreen in Co. Roscommon and working as a labourer.
"Together, William and Margaret established their home in the countryside near Charlestown, raising a family of 11 children.
"William predeceased his wife. His father, Patrick Sweeney, was a farmer – he was Noel and Liam's great-grandfather.
'Research into this branch of the Gallagher family tree is ongoing.'
"Noel and Liam Gallagher's maternal grandmother, Margaret Sweeney née O'Brien, was born on 29 October 1920 in Ballydrum townland, south of Charlestown. Noel Gallagher on stage at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff. Picture date: Friday July 4, 2025 (Image: Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
'She was a twin and arrived into this world 30 minutes before her younger sister Bridget.
'Their other siblings included Mary (b.1911), Anne (b.1912), Anthony (b.1913), Ellen (b.1915), Catherine (b.1919), Daniel (b.1921) and Frances (b.1923).
'In 1938, at just 17 years old, Margaret married William Sweeney, but the marriage record incorrectly states she was of 'full' age, implying she was 21 years or over.
'She was then living in the townland of Mullenmadoge, between Charlestown and Swinford.
"Margaret passed away in 2000, just shy of her 80th birthday, in her 19th-century house in the townland of Sonnagh on the Swinford side of Charlestown.'
At the height of their fame, Noel and Liam attended their grandmother's funeral in Charlestown, where they were left alone to mourn in peace, surrounded by family.
On the paternal side of the family tree, Noel and Liam's ancestors were primarily based in and around the towns of Duleek and Slane in Co. Meath.
In 2007, the Gallagher clan set a Guinness world record in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, for the largest gathering of people with the same surname. Six years' later, organisers in Gortahork, Co. Donegal, invited Noel and Liam Gallagher to another record-breaking attempt.
While thousands of Gallaghers showed up, the rockstar brothers didn't attend and Guinness refused to officially recognise the attempt.
The Gallagher roots of these global superstars, however, lie in Co. Meath and as kids, Noel and Liam spent many summer holidays in Duleek, their father's hometown.
According to Geneastar, their paternal grandfather, William Gallagher, was born in Duleek in 1914.
William married Frances Anne 'Annie' McKeown in 1942 in the church of St Michael Kill in Summerhill, Co. Meath.
The couple lived in the townland of Downestown, just outside Duleek, where William worked as a labourer and later as a woodworker.
But his life was cut short when he died in 1960 at the young age of 45 – before his rockstar grandsons were even born.
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