It is clear that Cruachan Aí served a range of interlinked ceremonial roles during its perhaps multiple periods of use. That function seems to focus on ritual activities, and given its prominence in the landscape, the view of it as a focal point of a great assembly or Áenach is a convincing one. Its use as a place of inauguration is not beyond possibility either, despite the fact that any such practices at the site must have ceased in prehistory.

Rathcroghan is mentioned as one of the five major Royal Sites of Ireland and is known as a place of burial and ritual gatherings. The legendary leader and Warrior Queen of Connacht, Medb, is said to have had her palace here at Rathcroghan around the turn of the first century. It is here that epic stories such as the Táin begin as oral tradition. This mound was the focal point for the entire region, and the very visual experience from the summit makes this all the more apparent.