The goddesses play only a small part in the male-oriented world of the Book of Invasions of Ireland and the Battle of Mag Tuired. They have a greater presence in the Dindshenchas (Place Names), as befits their localized, chthonic character.

The Irish goddess Brigit was said to be the daughter of Danu, but she was a powerful goddess in her own right, and was associated with childbirth and the festival of Imbolc (February 1). She is the Irish equivalent of the British Brigantia, whose temple had an eternal flame. With Christianization in Ireland Brigit became a saint. Said to be midwife to the Virgin Mary, her day was February 1, and her monastery at Kildare had a perpetual flame. The Christian saint was supplicated by the non-Christian act of burying a bird at the confluence of three rivers.

Macha appears to Crunnchu and offers to be his wife; she interdicts the use of her name. While visiting King Conchobor, Crunnchu boasts that his wife Macha can outrun Conchobor's horses. She must make good on the claim even though she is pregnant. She gives birth to twins, curses the Ulstermen, and dies. Her curse is that all Ulstermen will suffer birth pains once a year.

Three kings reign alternately over Ireland, each for 7 years. When one dies and leaves only a daughter, Macha, the other two refuse to recognize her. She defeats them and rules for 7 years. Another of the kings dies, and his 5 sons claim Ireland. Macha visits the five around a campfire in the guise of a leper. One brother observes that "the cailleach (local goddess) has beautiful eyes. Let us lie with her." She goes into the woods with each in turn, overpowering and binding each one. She forces them to build the walls of Emain Macha.

The third, euhemerized, expression of Macha is Macha, the wife of Nemed.

It is said that Nemed cleared the Plain of Macha and "bestowed it upon his wife so that it might bear her name." Eventually, she dies there.