At the beginning of the first century, a boy was born in the ancient fort of Dún Dealgan, a mile outside of Dundalk. His name was Setanta. Setanta had extraordinary powers because his father was Hugh (Loo), an important Celtic god. He won the name of Cúchulainn (Hound of Culain) by offering to take the place of a ferocious watchdog he had killed at the house of Culan.

Cúchulainn was a great hero of mythology and folklore. He is the main character in The Cattle Raid of Cooley, the oldest epic of western Europe in a native language. It is the central story of the Ulster cycle of ancient Irish tales. Said to have taken place about the time of Jesus Christ, the story has a slim bare fact, but the details are mythological.

Queen Maeve was checking her cattle stock and discovered that her husband, Allil had a magnificent brown bull that she envied. There was no equal bull in the land except in Cooley, the ancient name foe Carlingford Peninsula. This was King Conor's territory where the bull not only equalled Allil's bull, but bettered it. His friend was another young soldier named Ferdia who had equal ability to himself.

Maeve had to attack Ulster to steal the bull. Cúchulainn was defending the fords from the invaders. Queen Maeve ordered that his friend, Ferdia, her fearless fighter to fight Cúchulainn to the death.

Before the battle, Ferdia shouted at Cúchulainn:

"Attack then if we must
Before sunset and nightfall
I'll fight you at Bairche
In bloody battle
Men of Ulster will cry out
Death has seizes you!
The terrible sight
will pierce you through."

Cúchulainn replied:

You have reached your doom
Your hour is come
My sword will slash
And not softly
When we meet you will fall
At a hero's hands
Never again
Will you lead men"

These taunting jibes threw down the gauntlet for their fight to the death. Cúchulainn and Ferdia met at the ford, they bitterly reproached each other and they broke off their friendship. They fought terribly for three days. At the end the first and second day's battling, they came up to each other and each put his arm around the other's neck and gave him three kisses, and each through the night sent healing plants to the other.

When on the third day, Cúchulainn struck the final blow on his beloved friend. Cúchulainn carried Ferdia's body to the Ulster side of the ford. This would imply that Ferdia crossed into enemy territory before being killed.

Cúchulainn chanted in a bitter lament:

O Ferdia, you were betrayed to your death,
Your last end was sorrowful,
You to die, I to be living,
Our parting is an everlasting grief.

Queen Maeve succeeded in capturing the bull and brought it back to Connacht. It then fought and killed its wetern counterpart and found its way home! Queen Maeve plotted revenge against Cúchulainn and later used supernatural means to cause his death.