The translation given for "bheireadh gearra orthu" is that there would be a shortfall (of potatoes). can someone help me understand the Irish here?

And another passage:

The translation give is "they weren't able to as they would near the gear to make them". But how does "lean" have that meaning?

(do-)bheireadh = thugadh, past habitual of tabhair, to give

bheireadh gearra orthu.

Grammatically, something is missing, either a subject (who gave?) or an object (what was given?)
I’d assume the subject is missing. It is unpersonal or, more linguistically spoken, unaccusative, like:
thug misneach orthu = their courage failed them.

So:
A shortfall used to come on them, concern them.

Thank you, Labhrás. I see now - meaning 8 in FGB under tabhair ar. Should it be gearradh, rather than gearra?

I don’t understand the English translation, tbh.

The Irish:
Lean fearaistí na bróga go gcaithfidís a bheith acu
(standardized: Lean fearais na bróga ar chaithfidís a bheith acu)
= The outfits followed the shoes they usually had to have (themselves).

It's my mistake to have transcribed it "near the gear". The translation in the book is "need the gear". They weren't able to as they would need the gear to make them. It seems to mean they would need to make the shoes first before they could get the equipment from the mainland. As this is a serious of talks with Peig, obviously in speech you can be a little disfluent or make no sense. Thanks for your help and Happy New Year.

Looking at a later paragraph, Peig means by fearaistí things like the buckles that are needed for a shoe. So it becomes more understandable.

I've finished Labharfad le Cách, but I've go some questions:

1. Ach do chuir na buachaillí suas é go raibh na pinginí ag Nóra agus dá bhféadfadh sé gabháilt timpeall uirthi agus í a phósadh, go mbeadh aige.

Gabháil tímpall ar dhuine - I can't find this in dictionaries, but does it mean (mirroring the English) "to get round someone", ie "to get someone to do something"?

2. Ní haon dea-shúic thu.

This apparently means "you are no great shakes" (you are not such a great person). Does anyone recognise this?

3. A wife calls her husband "a Neaineo". Does anyone recognise this as meaning "my darling"?

The only thing I can think is it's an affected pronunciation for Deaideo.

It would be pronounced almost exactly like the Spanish niño - "(young) boy", which sounds far-fetched, but then again there's also the very common Irish word garsún, also meaning "boy", which clearly is from the French word with the same meaning.