The powerful Ó Néill clan of Tyrone dominates the center of the northern province of Ulster; Conn Ó Neill the Lame had been the first Ó Neill be created Earl of Tyrone under English law.

Hugh Ó Neill, the son of Mathew of Dungannon, who was the son of Conn Ó Neill the Lame, had seen his father killed and had himself been banished from Ulster as a child by Seán 'An Díomais' Ó Néill.

Brought up by the Hovenden family in the Pale, he had been sponsored by the English authorities as a reliable lord.

He had in 1587 persuaded Queen Elizabeth to make him Earl of Tyrone (or Tir Eoghain), the English title his grandfather had held.

The real power in Ulster, however, lies not in the legal title of Earl of Tyrone, but in the position of The Ó Néill, or chief of the Ó Neill clan, held at this time by Turlough Luineach Ó Neill.

It is this position that commands the obedience of all the Ó Neills and their dependents in central Ulster.

His constant disputes with Turlough have been fomented by the English with a view to weakening the power of the O'Neills, but with the growing power of Hugh, the two come to some agreement in 1595 and Turlough abdicates.

Hugh is subsequently inaugurated as The O'Neill at Tullahogue in the style of the former Gaelic kings, and becomes the most powerful lord in Ulster.

The ambitions of this Gaelic Irish chieftain are at odds with those of the advance of the English state in Ireland, from control over the Pale to ruling the whole island.

In resisting this advance, Ó Neill has managed to rally other Irish septs who are dissatisfied with English government and some Catholics who oppose the spread of Protestantism in Ireland.

From Hugh Roe Ó Donnell, his ally, he has enlisted Scottish mercenaries (known as Redshanks).

Within his own territories, O'Neill is entitled to limited military service from his sub lords or uirithe.

He has also pressed his tenants and dependents into military service and tied the peasantry to the land in order to increase food production.

In addition, he has hired large contingents of Irish mercenaries known as buanadha under leaders such as Richard Tyrell.

To arm his soldiers, Ó Neill has bought muskets, ammunition and pikes from Scotland and England.

Ó Donnell, on Ó Neill’s behalf, has from 1591 been in contact with Philip II of Spain, appealing for military aid against their common enemy and citing also their shared Catholicism.

With the aid of Spain, Ó Neill has been able to arm and feed over eight thousand men, unprecedented for a Gaelic lord, and so is well prepared to resist any further English attempts to govern Ulster.