[3][4] Although Ormonde had left Dublin with 3,000 foot and 500 horse, his reinforcement activities had significantly reduced the size of his detachment and he desired to avoid a direct confrontation with the rebels if possible.
[7] Given his predicament, Ormonde moved out of Athy early on the morning of 15 April traveling northeast along the high ground through the towns of Ardscull and Funtstown.
Against this body ... Ormond advanced with his corps of volunteers, and three hundred foot commanded by sir John Sherlock, lieutenant-colonel of lord Lambert's regiment.
In his biography of Ormonde (1736) Thomas Carte described this campaign in six pages, and assessed the casualties at Kilrush as: "..twenty English slain and about forty wounded; but the rebels lost above seven hundred killed outright.
The rebel leaders including Mountgarret, O'Moore, and O'Byrne all survived the battle and continued to play prominent roles in the Irish Confederate Wars.