This song was written in the late 19th century by Pádraig Ó Míléadha, who was an exile working in the coal mines of Wales. Pádraig was born in West Waterford, in the district known since as ‘Na Déise’ (‘The Decies’), in 1877.

Sliabh gCua (pronounce: ‘shleeve gooa’) is a traditional district of west County Waterford, Ireland, between Clonmel and Dungarvan. It was an Irish-speaking area until the late 19th century. Many people associated with the Irish sean-nós singing tradition, such as Pádraig Ó Mileadha and Labhrás Ó Cadhla, who came from Sliabh gCua. One of the best-loved emigrant songs in the sean-nós canon, Sliabh Geal gCua na Féile, was written by Ó Mileadha while he worked in Wales.

From ballinagree.freeservers.com

The second composition of note is his song, Sliabh Geal gCua, a poem in song that has become accepted as one of Ireland’s greatest songs of exile and one of the classics of the language this century. It was written in Wales.

Pádraig would often go with his wife and children to the seaside – Swansea Bay, Mumbles, the many coves of Gower. There he would sit and think of his childhood home, of his own language and of the grand old people who had spoken that language all around him in his earliest years.