Roughly circular and measuring about 28 metres north to south and 30.5 metres east to west, it is the kind of agricultural-scale enclosure that was once a familiar feature of the Irish countryside, though time and land use have not been kind to it. The bank that once defined it clearly survives to an external height of only 0.65 metres on the better-preserved stretches, and the northern to eastern arc has been levelled almost entirely flat.

This is a rath, the most common type of ringfort in Ireland, typically built during the early medieval period as a defended farmstead for a single family or small community. The earthen bank would originally have been topped with a timber palisade or thorny hedge, enclosing a space used for livestock, storage, and domestic life. At Ballinaya, the enclosure retains a gap on the east-south-east side, which may represent the original entrance, a feature commonly found on sites of this type. A stone fence now cuts across the interior from north to east, a later addition that has divided the site and reflects its absorption into the surrounding farmland. The interior itself is overgrown, which at least means the ground beneath has not been disturbed by ploughing.