along with the luighne, delbhna, saitne and ciannachta, the gailenga claimed descent from tadc mac cein mac ailill aulom. francis john byrne, in agreement with eoin macneill, believes that ""they were vassal tribes of fighting men whom the connachta and ui neill ... planted on the lands they conquered."" (ikhk, p. 69) while byrne and macneill believed they originated in connacht, recent research on the derivation of the term connachta would indicate that they originated within brega, and were transplanted west across the shannon by the connachta.