Battle of Desmond

[Blastoise Groudon]

Earl of Desmond:

1,200 men

900 archers and 300 foot

Earl of Desmond:
Same.

[Barry Goldwater]

The Battle for Desmond

This clash between the Geraldines of Kildare, who remained faithful to the House of York, and their Desmond cousins who pledged fealty to Lancaster promised to be a bloody and evenly matched affair, despite its small scale: both armies were of equal number, and their fight was a straightforward slugging match. First Kildare's archers did much better than Desmond's in the exchange of arrows, and next came the fight. Although Kildare's right faltered, their forces in the center and left achieved victory and as the Earl of Desmond was too careless to create a reserve (the same was true of Kildare, not that it matters now...), the Lancastrians' attempt at a retreat rapidly degenerated into a rout where they sustained grievous losses at the hands of the pursuing Kildare Yorkists: only the Irish forest and Kildare's lack of cavalry slowed the latter down. The battle was fierce but fairly short, and as the sun sets the White Rose's roots grew a little deeper into Irish soil.

Outcome: FitzGerald of Kildare (Yorkist) victory

Losses:

Desmond:
350 archers
220 light foot

Kildare:
0 archers
120 light foot