They are! But not all of them. There are a handful of "dark" minor key hornpipes that are some of my absolute favorites in the Irish repertoire.
This is one pair of "dark" hornpipes I'm working on with flute but it sits fine on mandolin. Kevin Burke is getting a great lift in the move from G dorian for Caisleán An Óir to The Humours Of Tullycrine in A dorian (which he calls Bobby Casey's here), but it also works if you play both in A dorian (which I'm doing on flute just because it's easier).
This is another great "dark" hornpipe -- Galway Bay, the second one in this set by Matt Molloy. It starts out typically hornpipe happy with Second Star and then goes darker for Galway Bay. Kevin Burke also does this one in G dorian:
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