 Owen O'Neill was leading his army south after his victory over the Scottish Covenanters at Benburb in June and was now attacking the royalists as directed by Rinuccini, the papal nuncio.His father was governor of Nenagh Castle, west of Roscrea, in October 1650 when the Parliamentarian army under Henry Ireton attacked and captured the castle on the way back from the unsuccessful siege of Limerick to their winter quarters at Kilkenny.Early in 1651, when he was about 21, his family followed Ormond into French exile.