The translator, Thomas Kinsella, didn't even attempt to give an accurate translation from the original Irish-language manuscripts. In fact, he states in the Introduction that "no attempt has been made to preserve the actual texture of the Irish narrative. Sentence structure and tense, for example, have been changed without hesitation; elements are occasionally shifted from one sentence to another; proper names have been substituted for pronouns, and vice versa; a different range of verbs has been used; and so on." So, take this entire translation with a pinch of salt.
As to translating the poetry from Old Irish into English, Kinsella hilariously warned readers that because he hadn't a clue what the original poetry meant, his "aim has been to produce passages of verse which more or less match the original for length, ambiguity and obscurity," and stressed that the poems he attempted to write instead of the originals "are highly speculative and may reproduce little if anything of the original effect."
Also, be aware that Kinsella failed to transfer the séimhiú from the original Irish manuscripts. Séimhiús are vital to the correct pronunciation of words, and should be included in modern translations as the letter 'h'. Thus he incorrectly rendered Queen Medbh (pronounced 'Maeve') as 'Medb' (pronounced 'Mabe'). I have an Irish-language version of the Tain and was able to compare Kinsella's translation with the original, and found many little errors in this way. Perhaps this is why he couldn't make head nor tail of the poetry.
Despite my complaints, however, I would never be able to translate the documents as well as Kinsella did -- not even close. I found this to be a delightful account of the events and people surrounding the Cattle Raid of Cooley (an Tain Bo Cuailnge). Kinsella combined scattered tales and edited out the boring repetitions, and replaced pronouns with nouns for clarity. It was a difficult and tedious job, and I'm glad Kinsella took it on.
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