Ua Fáeláin, Máel-Sechlainn
In the summer of 1170 Máel-Sechlainn was actively involved in resisting the invasion of east Munster by the Anglo-Norman expeditionary force brought in by the Leinster overking, Diarmait Mac Murchada (qv). Following the arrival at Baginbun (Co. Wexford) of Raymond le Gros (Raymond fitz William (qv)) at the beginning of May, Máel-Sechlainn led the men of Déisi and the Norse of Waterford in an unsuccessful counter-attack against the invaders; his vanguard outpaced the main body, however, and when repelled by the Normans it panicked and fled, sustaining heavy losses. In August Máel-Sechlainn took part in the defence of Waterford against Raymond. After the town was captured, he was sentenced to death along with the Hiberno-Norse nobles, his life being spared only by the timely arrival of Mac Murchada. In the winter of 1171–2 he formally submitted to King Henry II (qv) at Dublin. It seems that his bona fide was not accepted by Raymond, as in 1173 he led an attack into his territory from Waterford and sacked the ecclesiastical settlement of Lismore.
It is not clear when Máel-Sechlainn died; he was perhaps responsible for razing the English castle at Lismore in 1189, or this may have been effected by his successor, Art Cerb Ua Fáeláin, who died in 1203. By this time the local rulers of the Déisi had settled into a role as subjects of the English crown; Domnall Ua Fáeláin, styled ‘king of the Déisi’, died in 1206 on a hosting with the justiciar Meiler fitz Henry (qv).