Two lakes make up Lough Lannagh. One is northwest of the cut where the old diving board was. Boyd’s Island/McDonald’s Island is in this lake. The second lake is southwest of the cut. Cock Island and some smaller islands, now probably disappeared, are in this lake. Cock Island is directly opposite where Brown’s River (of Rhaeens) drains into the lake from Bilberry Lake (Islandeady Lake). According to another old stock, an old gun from the Newport Road fired the right barrel at a mallard rising from the river. The bird was wounded but continued to fly. A peregrine falcon swooped on the wounded bird which was way too heavy for it. A blast from the left barrel of the gun brought down both birds.

According to old stock, in the past sportsmen would put their dogs ashore on Cock Island to flush out the woodcock. You got a good shot if your boat was in a good position. Woodcock shooting was always known as cock shooting (still is) so this may be where the name Cock Island came from. Also according to old stock, the local name for Cock Island was “oileann na ‘hacha’”. In Irish a woodcock is called a creabhar so the name did not come from the Irish.