Battlefield in Clonliff East,clonliff South,clonliff West

Battle of Clonliffe, 1086 - summary by Dr Gavin Hughes. Uploaded 10/12/2020 Olive Alcock In July 1086 the king of Munster and effective high king of Ireland, Tairdelbach (Toirdelbach/Turlough) Ua Briain died. His death created a power struggle between his surviving sons, Muirchertach and Diarmait. This allowed the ambitious king of Tara and Meath, Mael Sechniall, son of Conchobor Ua Mael Sechniall, to march southwards into Leinster with the objective of capturing Dublin. The men of Dublin and Leinster hurriedly mobilised to oppose him and attempted to stop him at Clonliffe. The sources for this battle can be found in the Annals of Ulster (Mac Airt and Mac Niocaill 1983, 520-21), the Annals of Tigernach (Stokes 1895-7, vol. 2, 310), the Chronicon Scotorum (Hennessy 1866, 294-5), the Annals of Clonmacnoise (Murphy 1896, 183) and the later, and sometimes unreliable, Annals of the Four Masters (O’Donovan 1848-51, vol. 2, 927). The annals do not give any precise date for the battle and, although the Annals of Inisfallen (Mac Airt 1951, 238-9) do not mention it at all, they record that Tairdelbach died on the 14 July. As the other annals state that the battle was fought immediately following his death, it is thought that it must have been fought sometime in August or early September. Similarly, the annals do not give the names of any of the leaders of the Dublin-Leinster forces. Although Donnchad mac Domnaill Remair was king of Leinster at the time, it is unknown whether he was at the battle or not. Nevertheless, these forces shattered Mael Sechniall's army as it tried to approach the city at Clonliffe. Mael Sechniall's army comprised forces drawn from across the southern Uí Neill, including Mael Ciaran Ua Cathasaigh, king of Brega and it is thought that the king of Fir Chell (from modern County Westmeath/south-west County Offaly) was also present. Whilst accounts do not give the size of the army, if it also included warriors from Clann Cholmáin and Síl nÁedo Sláine, it must have been significant. Equally, the Dublin-Leinster army must have had a similar, if not larger, number considering their victory. Whilst the actual battlefield remains unlocated, it is thought to be near the boundary of the high medieval Liberty of Dublin, with the Annals of the Four Masters (O’Donovan 1848-51, vol. 2, 927) providing the ancient source for the name of the battle - the 'Breach of Crinnach'. If this is to be believed, then it suggests that the Dublin-Leinster forces stopped Mael Sechniall at a pass or narrow approach to the city. This may have been at Crinan, on the north side of the river Liffey, near to Clonliffe. The battle had a military impact in that Mael Sechniall's ambitions for Dublin/Leinster appear to have ended after Clonliffe. His allied kings of Brega and Fir Chell were listed among the dead and, in 1087, he himself would be killed during another struggle for power in north-west Meath.