3‭ ‬May‭ ‬1274:‭ ‬The death of the King of Connacht,‭ ‬Aedh‭ ‬O Conchobair,‭ ‬on this day.‭ 

Aed son of Fedlimid son of Cathal Crobderg O Conchobair,‭ ‬king of Connacht for nine years,‭ ‬died on the third day of May this year,‭ ‬a Thursday and the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross‭;

a king who wasted and desolated Connacht in fighting the Galls and Gaels who opposed him‭;

a king who inflicted great defeats on the Galls and pulled down their palaces and castles‭;

a king who took the hostages of the Ui Briuin and the Cenel Conaill‭;

the destroyer and healer of Ireland was he‭; 

the king most dreaded and triumphant of all the kings of Ireland in his day,‭ ‬as the poet says:‭ ‘‬For nine years did this Aed Engach defend the Family of Tara—no feeble forrayer was he—against Gall and Gael.‭’

While King Aedh was a formidable opponent for both his internal and external enemies,‭ ‬both Irish and English,‭ ‬his son who succeeded him was not able to hold his kingdom together:

Eogan son of Ruaidri son of Aed mac Cathail Chrobdeirg was instated in his stead by the men of Connacht.‭ ‬However,‭ ‬this kingship which was bestowed upon him was a short one,‭ ‬for he had been but three months in the lordship of Connacht when his own close kindred,‭ ‬led by Ruaidri son of Toirrdelbach son of Aed O Conchobair,‭ ‬killed him in the church of the friars at Roscommon,‭ ‬as the poet says:‭ ‘‬Ruaidri's son reigned for three months—short was the thread for the nursling of Bregia—the men of untilled Ailech wrought Eogan's sudden death.

Annála Connacht