It would also serve to underline the failure of Sussex in his undertaking of the same task seven years earlier, and dramatically display to Queen Elizabeth I of England just how useful her recognition of Shane's hegemony in Ulster could be to her.
Its composition probably followed the numbers he fielded the following year: The Macdonnells could expect Shane's sizeable host to take some weeks to cross from south down into their territory on the Antrim coast.
However, Shane advanced with unprecedented speed, cutting a road '6 marching men wide' in a single week through the dense woodland of the forest of Killultagh, "Coil Ultagh, the great wood of Ulster," situated along the shores of Lough Neigh between modern Lurgan and Aldergrove.
They surprised the garrison of Red Bay Castle, set it alight and 'brake it down to the ground' before James MacDonald, 6th of Dunnyveg's host could land at the adjacent beach at Waterfoot.
The combined MacDonnell army of around five hundred men occupied the exposed higher ground at Ramon, (the ridge at the head of modern Castle Street, Ballycastle, where the Presbyterian Church now stands) with only a small well for their needs.
By forgoing the customary exchange of spears, darts, and arrows by the light infantry kernagh and Scots archers that customarily preceded the usually decisive deployment of the Galloglass corrughadh, or battalions, Shane surprised the MacDonnell host.
[2] The MacDonnell leaders tried to rally their men, but after a violent interlude of some confusion, they broke and fled over Knocklayd mountain in the direction of Glenshesk, heading back towards the beach at Cushendun.
James of Dunnyveg was seriously wounded in the early fighting and his brother Angus MacDonnell killed, reputedly later in the rout while attempting a holding action at a standing stone sited just below modern Breen wood.
Sorley Boy, previously simply James's Seneschal of the Glynnes and Route, acquired considerable authority as the last remaining MacDonnell of his generation still resident in Antrim in the years after 1567.
After leading a protracted twenty-year struggle to defend the Glens and Route against the O’Neills of Clandeboye, the MacQuillans and the English, Sorley had his authority confirmed with an unexpectedly decisive victory at the battle of Orra in 1583.
Shane O'Neill's defeat of the MacDonnells at Glentaisie had cleared the way for the elevation of Sorley and his descendants by removing his eldest brother James of Dunnyveg, proper inheritor of the lordship of the Glynnes and Route and claimant to the prestigious lost title of "Lord of the Isles."