[1][2] Ní Laoghaire's works were composed in the Irish language and, delivered as part of an oral tradition, covered cultural and political topics of early 19th century Ireland.
[2][3] Ní Laoghaire was illiterate in both English and Irish, and learned through the oral tradition in the ceilidh houses.
Her songs and poems survived via the oral tradition of the area, as did compositions by her contemporaries such as Antoine Ó Raifteiri.
[citation needed] Her best-known composition is Cath Chéim an Fhia (The Battle of Keimaneigh), which provides an account of a fight between the local yeoman militia and the Whiteboys in 1822.
[2] In the 1930s, Father Donagh O'Donoghue compiled and published an Irish-language book of O'Leary's poetry titled "Filiocht Mhaire Bhuidhe Ni Laoghaire".