O'More (Ó Mordha), Conall (d. 1537), lord of Laois, was the son of Muircheartach, lord of Laois. Throughout his early life his family were restless clients of Gerald FitzGerald (qv), 8th earl of Kildare, who in 1513 died of gunshot wounds sustained while campaigning against them. In 1514 Kildare's son Gerald (Garret Óg) FitzGerald (qv), the 9th earl, led a successful expedition that forced the rebellious O'Mores to accept the overlordship of Giollaphádraig O'More, the earl's supporter. In 1520 Conall's brother Conn killed Sir Maurice FitzGerald, Kildare's brother.
Despite having a family connection with the FitzGerald's – his sons were foster brothers to Kildare's son Thomas (qv), Lord Offaly – Conall was anxious to exert his independence. He first appears in the records in the summer of 1520, when with Brian O'Connor Faly (qv), lord of Offaly, and Maolruanaidh O'Carroll (qv) (Ó Cearbhaill), lord of Ely, he raided the Pale. Thomas Howard (qv), earl of Surrey, the lord lieutenant, made an expedition against them, and, at a parley, learned from Maolruanaidh O'Carroll that the Irish confederates had undertaken the raid at the behest of Kildare. In July 1521 Conall, O'Carroll, and O'Connor Faly again raided Co. Kildare. Surrey led an inconclusive campaign against them, during which Conall was wounded by Sir Edward Plunkett, baron of Dunsany, but by August 1521 the three midlands lords had submitted.
Conall seems to have become lord of Laois on the death of his cousin Céadach son of Laoiseach O'More in 1523. He made the most of Kildare's absence from Ireland between 1519 and 1523, during which he formed an alliance with Kildare's arch-rival Piers Ruadh Butler (qv), the disputed earl of Ormond. On hearing news of Kildare's imminent return, Conall devastated much of southern Kildare in March 1522, but was curbed after Kildare arrived on 1 January 1523 and led an army into the midlands to bring his former clients to heel. Conall and Brian O'Connor Faly, after a short struggle, accepted Kildare as overlord through the mediation of Conn Bacach O'Neill (qv). In May 1524 Kildare was reappointed lord deputy of Ireland by Henry VIII. Despite having submitted to Kildare and accepted gifts of horses from him, Conall sought to shake off the Geraldine dominance. Unlike O'Connor Faly, now Kildare's son-in-law and firmly in his camp, Conall's part in the earl's reconquest of the Gaelic midlands in 1525 is unknown.
It is clear that the friendship between Conall and O'Connor Faly had cooled and given way to a considerable level of mistrust. During this period Conall slowly began to realign himself with Piers Ruadh Butler, and his discontent with Kildare manifested itself in sporadic raids into the Geraldine heartland in 1525 and 1526. In August 1526 Kildare and Piers Ruadh were summoned before the council in England to explain their struggle and to decide a course of action against the French intrigues of James FitzGerald (qv), 11th earl of Desmond. While Kildare was absent his Gaelic Irish clients, notably O'Connor Faly, began to disobey the government. Piers Ruadh, now earl of Ossory, returned to Ireland in the spring of 1528 and, following O'Connor Faly's abduction of Richard Nugent (qv), lord deputy of Ireland and baron of Delvin, approached the disgruntled clients of Kildare, with whom he hoped to make common cause. These in turn drew O'More and Cathaoir O'Connor Faly into his camp, as is indicated by their attendance at his investiture as lord deputy in October 1528.
On 24 August 1530 Kildare returned to Ireland with Sir William Skeffington (qv), the new lord deputy. Making a quick appraisal of the inroads Piers Ruadh's faction had made into the midlands, he cooperated with Skeffington for nearly a year, and with his approval launched several campaigns against his former adherents under the pretext of protecting the Pale. Kildare crushed O'More's defiance in a brutal expedition, and forced Conall to accept his overlordship in November 1530. As the struggle between Kildare and Piers Ruadh continued, Conall's third son, Giollaphádraig, was party to the murder of Thomas fitz Piers Ruadh Butler by Kildare clients in 1532.
In September 1533 Kildare and Piers Ruadh were again summoned to London and required to appear before the king. Kildare delayed until spring 1534; on 11 June Kildare's son Thomas FitzGerald, now vice-deputy, believing that his father had been executed in London, rebelled against the king. The O'Mores figured prominently in his victory over Piers Ruadh at Thomastown that summer. In the battle another son of Piers Ruadh was wounded by Conall's son Céadach Ruadh. During September 1534 Thomas FitzGerald, by now 10th earl of Kildare, ordered his Gaelic Irish clients, including Conall, to protect Co. Kildare, while he laid siege to Dublin. The annals record that Conall killed Muircheartach O'Dempsey (Ó Diomusaigh) in 1534, an incident which probably belongs to the wider war between FitzGerald and Piers Ruadh. In December 1534 Conall and Thomas burned to the ground the towns of Trim and Dunboyne.
Cracks developed in the FitzGerald alliance when Conall and Cathaoir O'Connor Faly formed a pact early in 1535. The fall of Maynooth to Skeffington in late March 1535 opened up the midlands to his armies, and Piers Ruadh quickly followed this victory by striking at Kildare's wavering Irish allies. He detached two brothers of O'More from the Geraldine cause and with them made war upon Conall, who to prevent the destruction of his lordship was forced in April 1535 to desert Kildare, give hostages to Piers Ruadh, and swear to support the government. Sir John Burnell and Feidhlim Buidhe O'Connor Faly, two of Kildare's principal supporters, were captured by O'More's troops in August 1535 and it was reported that in the same battle Conall's troops captured but then released Kildare. Conall's reluctance to hand over his former allies to the authorities prompted Lord Leonard Grey (qv) to complain to Thomas Cromwell on 15 August 1535. Within days, Cathaoir O'Connor Faly, who was bound by his earlier alliance with Conall to campaign against the rebels, surrendered to Piers Ruadh; and on 24 August 1535 Brian O'Connor Faly and Kildare surrendered to Grey.
Conall continued to play an important role in midland politics. In March 1536 it was reported in government circles that he and many Gaelic Irish lords of Leinster were deeply disturbed by the arrest of Sir James FitzGerald. Only the heavy presence of government troops and a parley between Grey and Conall and Cathaoir MacMurrough (qv) (d. c.1544) (Mac Murchadha) at Kilkea prevented a rebellion. In June 1536 a war broke out between Conall and Brian MacGillapatrick (qv) (Mac Giollaphádraig) of Ossory. Grey, now lord deputy, intervened and stopped the conflict by bringing the two lords to Dublin. On 14 July Conall with Piers Ruadh acted as sureties for the submission of MacMurrough, and in July and August Conall with 137 of his men campaigned with Grey against the Munster Geraldines.
O'More is last mentioned serving with Grey against O'Connor Faly in June 1537. He seems to have died shortly afterwards. Owing to his shrewd judgement and ability to make timely alliances, his lordship of Laois saw the brief renaissance of the O'Mores as a major political and military force within the midlands. With his wife Gormflaith O'Carroll, according to the records, he had six sons. He was succeeded by his brother Piers, a supporter of Piers Ruadh.