Presentation Brothers

At a meeting convened in Kilkenny in October 1642 a confederation of the various parties was formed and it effectively became Ireland's new government. News of its success reached the Irish on the continent and some who had extensive military experience in continental armies came back from exile.

Eoghan Rua O'Neill, a nephew of Hugh O'Neill, who had been educated at Louvain and served in the Spanish army in Flanders for nearly 40 years, returned to Ireland in 1642 and took control of the forces in Ulster. He typified the spirit of Irish Catholicism that was nurtured by the Counter Reformation movement among Irish exiles on the Continent.