The article highlights a painful paradox: exhausted Confederate leaders viewed cooperation with Inchiquin as strategic protection, yet his previous campaigns made that alliance intolerable to many Catholics. Rinuccini’s censures and O’Neill’s resistance show how religious legitimacy, provincial interests, and civilian suffering shaped political choices alongside military necessity. Particularly striking is the absence of decisive battle between rival Confederate armies, despite severe hardship inflicted by their movements and requisitions. How should we interpret the Dungarvan truce: as a necessary attempt to preserve Catholic power, or as a compromise that weakened the Confederation’s capacity to defend its original aims against parliamentarian expansion?