⁹Wood-Martin, W. G. Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland. Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green, & Co. 1902. 228.
Another version of this story features the beehive turning into a bronze helmet, and that the O'Herlihys kept the bronze helmet as a source of protection. "M.T. Kelly, writing in the JCHAS , Vol.III No. 25. (1897), p.102 , suggests that Windele had come across accounts of this helmet but that it had been lost somewhere in Kerry. Another version has the beehive turning into a bell which then became Gobnait's bell." ("St Gobnait." Diocese of Kerry. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://www.dioceseofkerry.ie/page/heritage/saints/st_gobnait/>.)
In his Lives of the Irish Saints, O'Hanlon wrote of the battle, "She is said to have held in her hand, at the time, a square box, or beehive, full of holes at the sides. These were so formed that a bee flying, could go in and out through them. This instrument has been called, in Gaelic, the beachaire, i.e., " something to hold bees." It is supposed to have been soft and elastic. St. Gobnet prayed for some moments, when she saw the invader making towards her. After this, the bees flew out of their hive, and effectually stayed the ravages of the haughty chief." (O'Hanlon, John. Lives of the Irish Saints. Vol. 2. Dublin: Duffy, 1875. 464. Quoted in Harris, Dorothy C. "Saint Gobnet; Abbess of Ballyvourney." The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 8.2 (1938): 275.)
Another story of the saint is recounted in a guidebook. It concerns "a robber who arrived in the area and tried to erect a pagan shrine here. Gobnait threw her bowl which demolished it. The bowl is now attached to the west wall of the church and a tradition has grown up of touching it with a personal item for healing [as part of the turas, at the west wall of the old church]. (Meehan, Cary. The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland: A Guide to the Sacred Places of Ireland, Her Legends, Folklore and People. Glastonbury: Gothic Image, 2004. 537-40.)
Edith Guest further describes this ritual: "Next, the west wall of the church is reached, and here is a small square niche into which the devotee passes his arm almost to its full length. At the extremity he feels a smooth round object and touches it three times: it is Saint Gobonet's Bowl, and each time he transfers its virtue to himself by crossing himself with the same hand that felt it. Once this object was loose and handed about for its virtues, but the priests thought it led to undesirable practices, and imprisoned it where it now is. The legend attached to this bowl is as follows: A neighbouring chief wished to build a castle close to the Abbey. The Saint made her objection practical by throwing her stone bowl each night at the walls, whereupon what had been built during the day fell down. Since then the bowl has been efficacious for the cure of contusions. (Guest, Edith M. "Ballyvourney and Its Sheela-na-gig." Folklore 48.4 (1937): 374-84.)