# Eileen McCarthy — Darby O’Gill and the Good People character guide

> Eileen McCarthy in Darby O’Gill and the Good People by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** McCarthy, Poor Eileen

**First appearance:** 0002-darby-o-gill-and-the-good-people

## Snapshot

Cormac's young daughter, whose small appetite and smaller future weigh on every bargain her father makes.

## Who they are

Eileen is the child Cormac McCarthy means to keep alive on the earnings of his stone-cutting tools after the banshee has driven him to offer Darby everything he owns. She is spoken of with tender worry — 'poor Eileen,' the crachure who 'ates little at the best of times' — and her vulnerability is the measure of her father's desperation. Her fate shadows the banshee episode and gives the village's supernatural terrors a human cost.

## Relationships

### [Darby O'Gill](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/characters/darby_o_gill)

_social_

Eileen is a young woman in the village whom Darby knows and interacts with as part of the community.

### [Cormac McCarthy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/characters/cormac_mccarthy)

_family_

Cormac and Eileen are father and daughter, with Cormac protective and caring toward her.

### [Darby O'Gill](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/characters/darby_o_gill)

_social_

Eileen is a young woman in the village whom Darby knows and interacts with as part of the community.

### [Cormac McCarthy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/characters/cormac_mccarthy)

_family_

Cormac and Eileen are father and daughter, with Cormac protective and caring toward her.

### [Darby O'Gill](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/characters/darby_o_gill)

_social_

Eileen is a young woman in the village whom Darby knows and interacts with as part of the community.

### [Cormac McCarthy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/characters/cormac_mccarthy)

_family_

Cormac and Eileen are father and daughter, with Cormac protective and caring toward her.

## In the story

### [The Diplomacy of Bridget](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/chapters/i-the-diplomacy-of-bridget)

The dying young bride for whom Darby is sent to fetch help.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/chapters/ii)

Mentioned as being ill with fever and in need of tea; Bridget visited her earlier.

### [II: The Banshee's Halloween](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/chapters/ii-the-banshee-s-halloween)

Lying ill in bed, she expresses her fear that Cormac will remarry after her death.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/chapters/i)

Dying woman for whom Darby is bringing tea as an act of charity.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/chapters/ii)

Ill and feverish, expresses fears of Cormac remarrying after her death; later falls into a healing sleep after the spell is broken.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/characters/eileen_mccarthy
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/darby_o_gill_and_the_good_people_se/characters