The IRA force comprised almost 100 volunteers from counties Cork and Kerry, armed with rifles, hand grenades and a machine gun. Their target was a British Army convoy of three lorries, an armoured car and a touring car carrying Brigadier General Hanway Robert Cumming. The convoy was travelling from Killarney to Buttevant and comprised almost 40 soldiers of the East Lancashire Regiment. The IRA are not believed to have sustained any casualties.