Brian Carrach MacDonnell, the younger brother of James and Sorley, gained from the eclipse of his older brothers in the year following Glentaisie. His alliance with Shane made him the most powerful MacDonnell in the Glens and Route until Shane's assassination by his nephews in 1567, and his own death the following year. The death of James of Dunnyveg in captivity at Castle Crocke on 5 July 1565, within months of the battle, left the lordship of the Glens nominally in the hands of his sons Archibald MacDonald, 7th of Dunnyveg and Angus MacDonald, later 8th of Dunnyveg, Sorley's nephews.
The passage describes the power dynamics within the MacDonnell clan following the deaths of James and Sorley, with Brian Carrach rising to prominence as a result. The death of James at Castle Crocke left the Glens in the hands of his sons, Archibald and Angus, who were nephews of Sorley.