Of the four women who earned their degrees within the National University of Ireland and were employed by the NUI as academic historians, only Ní Chinnéide had initially specialised in history.

Ní Chinnéide contributed articles to newspapers and radio as well as publishing works on local and European history.

She was a supporter of mandatory Irish policies and promoted economic history and believed in internal migration as a way to deal with the poverty seen in Gaeltacht regions.

She was effective as a teacher and mentor but did not support the direction Irish history appeared to be taking, disagreeing with revisionist historians about conclusions made from elitist documentation.

Ní Chinnéide died ten years after her retirement, in 1980 and was buried in Rahoon cemetery, Galway.