But of others it is to be remembered that they were not in sympathy with Young Ireland, that they were not bound to support an insurrection undertaken irrespective of them, and that they could not be expected to take the initiative.

There were at least two priests in Tipperary prepared to lead their parishioners to the insurgent standard if O'Brien struck at any point a successful blow.
O'Brien's indecision was the real cause why the insurrection died in its birth.
If courage and devotion could have saved Ireland in 1848, O'Brien and his comrades would have saved the land.

No braver gentlemen could any nation produce.

They asked their countrymen to take no risks they did not take themselves in the forefront.

But courage and devotion alone can never make an insurrection into a revolution.