set up his camp in Cluain Aire beside the River to cover the ford. When finally O'Donnells troops did arrive they numbered 400 Gallowglass from all the MacSweeney septs. With this virtual parity in the (usually) decisive heavy infantry the O'Donnell host proceeded to advance on O'Neill's camp. Shane when first perceiving their attack said: ‘It is very wonderful and amazing to me that those people should not find it easier to make full concessions to us, and submit to our awards, than thus come forward to us to be immediately slaughtered and destroyed.’ AFM 1563 This statement, made just as the armies met, must have been a late attempt to put heart into his own surprised army. Significantly the main O'Donnell war host had employed rising ground to successfully cover their advance until it was far too late for O'Neill to deploy his own Gallowglass spars into proper line of battle to hold the enemy while the O'Neill horse mounted up. The O'Neill army were caught utterly unprepared, in much the same way as O'Neill himself had taken a MacDonnell host by surprise at Glentaisie in 1565. Despite the element of surprise and O'Neill's lack of manoeuvre room, the resistance of the surprised O'Neill Gallowglass in this encounter battle was at first successful for the Four Masters state that the action lasted "for a long time." Eventually, with their loose protective screen of gallowglass cut down, a panicked rout of Shane's force ensued. The O'Donnell pressure of attack continued so fiercely that the broken O'Neill host was forced back on the ford and attempted to recross the Swilly. As the tide was now coming in, many of them to simply drowned in the speeding rush of waters average). O'Neill's losses are estimated by their enemies at 1,400 men killed and no prisoners are mentioned, although the English sources note a more credible total of 680 dead. With many of his most senior commanders and advisors killed amid the chaos of the first onslaught, O'Neill himself escaped the final slaughter with the timely aid of a party of the Gallaghers. They guided him to Ath an Tairsi (Ford of protection) near Crieve Smith in Oldtown to-day, (not to be confused with Scarrifholis which is further up the river) where they escorted him to his own territory and relative safety. The aftermath Many of the Donnelleys, Shane's foster family and the