In 1580 he joined in the rebellion of the Earl of Desmond, but shortly afterwards with his brother Edmund was surprised and confined to the castle of Limerick.
In September 1582 he was reported to have gone to Spain with the catholic bishop of Killaloe; but he was in January 1583 wounded at the Dingle, and in April 1587 captured and committed to Dublin Castle.
In 1588 Sir William Herbert made a laudable effort to procure his release, offering to pawn his bond to the uttermost value of his land and substance for his loyal and dutiful demeanour, ‘knowing him to be of no turbulent disposition'.
He was, however, opposed by St. Leger and Fitzwilliam, and despite a loving attempt on the part of his wife to obtain his freedom he remained in prison until 1591–2.
During the last great rebellion that convulsed Ireland in Elizabeth's reign he, perhaps more from compulsion than free choice, threw in his lot with the rebels; but the evident ruin that confronted him and the loss of his castle of Lixnaw so affected him that he died shortly afterwards, August 1600.