Oliver Cromwell had led an assault by the New Model Army from the south-east of Ireland, while Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill (later 1st Earl of Orrery) had inspired a mutiny among the English Royalist garrison in Cork, causing them to defect to the Parliamentarians.
The only organised Irish forces remaining in south Munster were those of Viscount Muskerry, who held out in the mountainous area of western Cork and County Kerry – which was his clan’s native territory.
Muskerry marched in the direction of Kanturk with 3,000 infantry and some cavalry, hoping to link up with bands of Irish guerrillas or "tories" on the road north.
Broghill reported that his horsemen broke into the Irish pike squares at the "angles" (corners) by riding up, firing their pistols, reloading and repeating the process until there was a large enough gap in the formation for the English cavalry to break in with their swords.
He also related that his men found Catholic "charms" sown into the clothing of the Irish dead, which promised that the wearer would be invulnerable to weapons.