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Editions

• P. K. Ford (tr), The Celtic Poets: Songs and Tales from Early Ireland and Wales (Belmont, MA 1999) 56-63.
• J. O'Donovan (ed & tr), Annals of Ireland: Three Fragments (Dublin 1860) 32-51.
  
• P. Ó Ríain (ed), Cath Almaine (Dublin 1978).
  
• J. N. Radner (ed & tr), Fragmentary Annals of Ireland (Dublin 1978) 66-80.
• W. Stokes (ed & tr), 'The Battle of Allen', Revue Celtique xxiv (1903) 41-70.
  

Manuscripts

• The Yellow Book of Lecan (T.C.D. H.2.16, col. 939.8-942.35)--second recension
  
• R.I.A. D iv 2 87 R a i-V a 44--second recension
  
• The Book of Fermoy (R.I.A. 23 E 29, 128 b 1-130 b 13)--second recension
  
• Brussels MS 5301-5320--first recension
  

Date

• The second recension is probably a twelfth-century revision of a tenth-century saga (Ó Ríain xxiv ff.)
• The first recension is probably a modernized survival of a copy of the original tenth-century source (Ó Ríain xxvii).
  

Characters

• Fergal mac Máele Dúin (710-722), king of Ireland from Cenél nÉogain (a branch of the Northern Uí Néill)
• Donn Bó (d. 759), a gifted poet from Fir Rois and likely the son of Cú Brettan mac Congusa (though he is not represented as such in the saga)
  
• Máel mac Faílbe, successor of Colum Cille (i.e. head of the Columban familia)
• Cú Brettan mac Congusa (d. 740), king of Fir Rois.  Historical sources (though not the saga) indicate that Cú Brettan was the father of Donn Bó as well as another famous Irish poet named Blathmac, who does not appear in the saga.
• Cathal mac Finguine (d. 742), king of Cashel from the Éoganacht Glendamnach (Cathal only appears in the first recension.)
  
• The following figures are minor characters:
• Murchad mac Brain (d. 727), king of Uí Dúnlainge (northern Leinster dynasty) and joint leader of the Laigin
• Áed Menn mac Colcan (d. 738), king of Uí Cheinnselaig (southern Leinster dynasty) and joint leader of the Laigin
  
• Dúnchad mac Murchada (d. 728), son of Murchad mac Brain (d. 727)
  
• Áed Laigen mac Fithchellaig (d. 722), king of Uí Maine
  
• The following figures are mentioned but play no role in the story:
• Fínnachta Fledach mac Dúnchado (674-695), king of Tara from Síl nÁedo Sláine (a branch of the Southern Uí Néill)
• Loingsech mac Óenguso (695-704), king of Tara from Cenél Conaill (a branch of the Northern Uí Néill)
• Congal Cennmagair (704-710), king of Tara from Cenél Conaill (a branch of the Northern Uí Néill)
• Mo-Ling (d. 697), cleric and founder of Tech Mo-Ling (St. Mullins, Co. Carlow)
• Fáelán mac Murchado (d. 738), son of Murchad mac Brain and king of the Laigin.
• Fáelchar, king of Osraige
  

Notes

• The battle of Allen took place on the eleventh of December 722.  The invading Uí Néill under Fergal mac Máele Dúin were defeated by the Laigin under Murchadh mac Brain and Áed Menn mac Colcan. Many prominent men were killed, Fergal included.
  
• The Hill of Allen (Almu), near which the battle took place, is located in Co. Kildare (Laigin territory) and is famous in Irish literature for its associations with Finn mac Cumaill and the otherworld.  It should not be confused with Dún Ailinne (Knockaulin).
• This story is regarded as a sequel to the Bórama.
  

The night before the battle, Fergal asks Donn Bó to entertain them with his art.  The storyteller refuses but promises to entertain Fergal on the next night no matter where he is.  Then the fool Ua Maigleine tells the troops tales about the conflicts between Leth Cuinn and the Laigin from the destruction of Dind Ríg to the present.  (See the sagas Orgain Denna Ríg and  Bórama for accounts of the events that likely formed the substance of Ua Maigleine's stories.)  When the battle is joined the next day, the Laigin forces under Murchad mac Brain and Áed Menn mac Colcan route the forces of Leth Cuinn.  Fergal, Donn Bó, and many others are slain.  Ua Maigleine is captured and forced to perform the "fool's roar" (gréim drúith).  He and Fergal are then beheaded.  As the forces of Leth Cuinn take flight, the Laigin kill Áed Laigen mac Fithchellaig, king of Uí Maine, but Cú Brettan escapes.

During the Laigin celebration that night, Murchad mac Brain offers a valuable reward to the man who will go out into the battlefield and return with a token.  (In early Irish literature, battlefields at night are haunted by hideous apparitions.)  A Munster warrior named Báethgalach volunteers.  Among the corpses, he discovers the severed head of Donn Bó entertaining Fergal.  Promising to return him to his body, Báethgalach takes Donn Bó's head to the Laigin, and it sings a "piteous warrior's chant" (dord fiansa attruag) for them.  The head is then returned to the body, and Donn Bó, whole again through the intercession of St. Colum Cille, returns home to his mother.

[What follows appears only in the first recension.]  The Laigin send Fergal's head to Cathal mac Finguine, king of Cashel.  He is angry about Fergal's death, for they had recently made peace after being at odds for a long time.  Cathal takes the head and has its hair braided, puts a scairf around it, and gives it such a substantial offering of food that the head blushes from the honor it has received.  Cathal then takes the head to the Uí Néill and their kingship is bestowed on Flaithbertach mac Áedo.  Later, Cathal wages a war on the Laigin under Fáelán mac Murchado and defeats them at the battle of Féile.