Battle of Tecroghan The Battle of Tecroghan took place near Trim , in west Leinster , Ireland in June 1650 . It was fought between the armies of Confederate Ireland and the English Parliament during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . An English force under Hewson and Reynolds had surrounded the formidable castle of Tecroghan . The castle was defended by a force led by Sir Robert Talbot and Lady Fitzgerald and contained a considerable number of cannon . Clanricarde and Castlehaven felt it was of enough strategic importance to warrant combining their forces and coming to the relief of the Castle . The battle was unusual in that an Irish force managed to win a minor battlefield victory over a force of New Model Army troops , although the long term strategic consequences of this victory were minor . Background . By the summer of 1650 , Things were looking dire for the Irish . Many towns in the south and east were under parliamentarian control . A plague , which had first appeared in Galway in late 1649 , was still decimating the population of many parts of the country . The Irish still controlled the major towns of Waterford , Galway and Limerick , as well as all of the province of Connaught . A veteran force of several thousand Ulstermen was still active in the North . But the English were starting to threaten central Ireland . Ormonde and Clanricarde realised they needed to make a major effort if they were to hold off the English advance . The castle of Tecroghan was located in a bog island seven miles west of Trim . The surrounding terrain was fairly desolate , but it was only a few miles from the main road from Dublin to Athlone , making it of considerable strategic importance . English forces appeared before the Castle in May , but Hewson shortly after led some companies away to hunt the partisans known as tories . This weakened the besieging force . Clanricarde and Castlehaven realised that if they united their forces they would have a chance to come to the castles relief . The battle . In 18 June Clanricarde and Castlehaven led a force several thousand strong to Tyrellspass , westward of Tecroghan . Observation revealed that the castle was surrounded by 1 , 400 English Infantry and 1 , 200 cavalry ; most of them entrenched behind crude fortrifications . The English Cavalry was a major danger to the Irish , who were mostly infantry , but much of the terrain around Tecroghan was boggy ground upon which cavalry would have difficulty . A council of war determined that an effort should be made to relieve the castle . Each soldier was given packages of gunpowder and food to carry about their person in addition to their weapons . Shortly before the battle Clanricarde withdrew , on the grounds of poor health , and thus Castlehaven was left to direct the combined armies . On 19 June the Irish column moved into the bog . Only four miles away from the castle they ran into the 2 , 600 English soldiers deployed in a battle line . After deploying , Castlehaven ordered a small force of horse to distract the enemy ; immediately afterwards the Irish infantry attacked , the Irish left wing ( under colonel Burke ) attacking the English right . Shortly after nightfall Burke ' s men broke through . On the Irish right flank things did not go so smoothly ; a sudden English counter - attack drove the Irish back into the woods and bog . Castlehaven tried to prevent panic taking hold in the Irish centre , but failed . The Irish army was thus soon in retreat . Even so , a few hundred of the Irish on the left flank were able to make it to the Castle with their packages . On the way they managed to destroy part of the English siege works and capture a cannon . In the following few days , the reinforced garrison sallied out against the English , killing some soldiers . Although the Irish forces were driven off , the battle of Tecroghan can be considered a small Irish victory , as they had achieved their objective with minimal loss of life : Dr Henry Jones , an English obsever in Ireland at the time , records in his notes that only eight Irish soldiers were killed in the battle . The English forces however were reinforced and Castlehaven and Clanricarde realised by 23 June that further efforts to relieve the castle were hopeless . On 25 June Sir Robert Talbot and Lady Fitzgerald surrendered the castle . The terms were lenient , allowing the garrison to march out with their weapons and serve elsewhere in Ireland . Only a few days after the battle took place the veteran Ulster army was destroyed at the battle of Scarrifholis , dashing all remaining hopes of resisting the English conquest .