Clifford returned to Connacht, where he was killed and his forces routed at the Battle of Curlew Pass. This defeat - so soon after the defeat of Harrington in Wicklow - was rated by Cecil as the heaviest blow ever suffered by the English in Ireland, and at Court the blame was laid on Essex. O'Neill was now free from threat in the west, and an attack on his territory in Ulster was unlikely. Crown authority in Ireland hung in the balance.