Battle of Knocknaclashy Boyle had inspired a mutiny among the English Royalist garrison in Cork, causing them to defect to the Parliamentarians. This had outflanked the defences of Irish Confederates and English Royalists, causing them to retreat behind the river Shannon into Connacht, where they held the fortified cities of Limerick and Galway. Henry Ireton went on to besiege Limerick. The only organised Irish forces remaining in south Munster were those of Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry, who held out in the mountainous area of west Cork and county Kerry – which was his clan’s native territory. In July 1651, Muskerry set out from
Tournafulla to the north, Abbeyfeale to the west, Meelin/Rockchapel, County Cork to the south and Brosna, County Kerry to the southwest. It is surrounded by hills to the north and the Mullaghareirk Mountains to the south. Woods covered most of Tournafulla until the 17th century and Irish was still the main language up until the 1910s. The three counties of Limerick, Cork and Kerry converge at a point in the parish of Tournafulla/Mountcollins. A plaque has been placed at the River Feale to mark this point. Within a few miles of the parish are the villages of Rockchapel, County Cork, and