The last O ‘Donoghue Mor, his given name meant ‘over king’, or senior king.
During the ‘Catholic Crusade’ – or the Desmond Wars- 1579-83, Rory was
involved on both sides, sometimes fighting with the Crown forces of the Earl
of Ormonde, sometimes with the rebel Earl of Desmond. He finally and
portentously threw in with the FitzGerald Earl and suffered a similar fate
to that doomed insurrectionist.

Some feel that he was victimised by the duplicitous Earl of Clanncarre
(Donal Mac Carthy Mor of Blarney Castle). This Mac Carthy Mor was quick to
confiscate the O’ Donoghue Mor castle and lands in the name of betrayal to
the English Crown and thereby do away with the first great Gaelic magnate
family to fall by refusing to recognise Rory’s heirs.