It is only the Irish nation that is made the scape-goat in such cases.
It was July, but the weather was wet, the rivers were high, Ormond was ill, Sussex would not leave his friend, and so the English army stayed in town doing nothing till the end of the month, when their failing provisions admonished them that an Irish hosting would be desirable.
O'Neill, who seems to have been aware of the state of things, presented the appropriate temptation.

Spies brought the lord deputy word that in the direction of Cavan there were herds of cows, which an active party might easily capture.

These spies, with ardent professions of loyalty, offered to guide the English troops to the place where the booty would be found, their object being to draw them among bogs and rivers where they might be destroyed.

The lord deputy did not think it necessary to accompany this host, which consisted of 200 horse, 500 men-at-arms, and some hundreds of the loyal Irish of the Pale.

Shane intended to attack them the first night while resting on their march.