Gerald FitzJames FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond, claimed jurisdiction over "The Déise", (pronounced "day-sha") in County Waterford, and in January 1565, crossed the Blackwater with his army, to levy tribute in the old form of "coign and livery". Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, 1st Viscount Decies, chief of the district and a Desmond dependant, resident in the borderland between the territories, called on his first cousin, Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond for help. Ormonde mobilised his men to intercept the Geraldines at Affane, a ford over the Finisk, a tributary of the Blackwater River, in the foothills of the Knockmealdown Mountains near Lismore.