Niall Frossach
Brother of high king Áed Allán (died 743), Niall was the son of high king Fergal mac Máele Dúin (died 722) and a member of the Cenél nEógain, a branch of the Northern Uí Néill.[1] The epithet Frossach (showery) is said to come from showers of silver, honey and wheat which fell on his home at Fahan in Inishowen at his birth.However the new high king Domnall Midi (died 763) of the Clann Cholmáin branch of the southern Ui Neill appointed Áed Muinderg (died 747) of the rival Cenél Conaill as his representative in the North (Rí in Tuaiscert).[8] He was followed as King of Ailech by his nephew, Máel Dúin mac Áedo Alláin (died 788) son of Áed Allán.His judgements are referenced in a poem by Tuileagna Ó Maoil Chonaire, Labhram ar iongnaibh Éireann, written some eight hundred years later.