Unlike the
First Battle of Athenry in 1249, no surviving account gives the date of the battle itself. Even the site of the battle itself is uncertain.
Rickard de Bermingham and
William Liath de Burgh led an Anglo-Irish force to victory.
John Clyn states that "According to common report a sum of five .... thousand in all [were killed] the number decapitated was one thousand five hundred." The battle was a devastating defeat for the Connacht Gaels, who were allied with the
Scotsman Edward Bruce. Among those killed were kings
Fedlim Ó Conchobair and
Tadhg Ó Cellaigh King of
Uí Maine. In 2016, Martyn wrote that: Though various Uí Chonchobair were
Rí Connacht till 1477, prospective recovery of the overkingdom died with Fedlimid at Athenry. The real beneficiaries were among the ostensible losers, the kings of Tuadhmhumha, Uí Maine, and Uí Fhiachrach Muaidhe. Within decades each was successfully reconstituted as independent kingdoms, existing as such for the next two hundred and fifty years. Descendants of their leading lineages survive as titled aristocracy today. The heads of King Fedlimid of Connacht and King Tadhg of Uí Maine were mounted over the town's main gate. This image remains the coat of arms of Athenry today. ==Annalistic accounts==