In her analysis of the medieval Irish pseudo-historical prophetic text Baile in Scáil ‘The Phantom's Vision’, Máire Herbert makes the case that ‘for the Uí Néill propagandists of the early eleventh century the mythic past provided a defensive strategy in a threatening present’. What she is referencing here is the use made by literati associated with Uí Néill – and particularly with the northern branch known as Cenél nEógain – of the motif of the sovereignty goddess bestowing a drink on the rightful ruler in order to re-assert their long-established rights to the kingship of Tara, reckoned as the pre-eminent kingship in early medieval Ireland. This use of myth to back up contemporary political concerns occurred at a period in their history when Uí Néill hegemony was under serious threat from powerful political rivals; the compilation of this particular narrative has been described as ‘a recourse by Cenél nEógain to the cornerstone of tradition at a time when they “were isolated from the currents of social, political, and ecclesiastical change”’. Baile in Scáil was not the only attempt made by Uí Néill propagandists to utilize the image of the sovereignty goddess in re-affirming their rights to the kingship of Tara.