Earthworks of this kind are among the most common and least explained features of the Irish countryside. The category itself covers a broad range of man-made or partly man-made landforms, from the banks and ditches of early enclosures to the levelled platforms of long-vanished structures, and without further detail it is not possible to say with any certainty what purpose this particular example served or when it was made.

The name Lisluinaghan offers a small clue in itself. Place names beginning with "Lis" typically derive from the Irish "lios", meaning a ringfort or fortified enclosure, which were commonly built during the early medieval period, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, and used as farmsteads by local families of varying status. Whether the earthwork in question is related to such an enclosure, predates it, or belongs to an entirely different tradition, remains unclear from what is presently available. Clare is a county with a dense archaeological landscape, and earthworks here range from prehistoric field systems to post-medieval drainage features, making the category wide and the possibilities numerous.