The structure is named Clochán Áine, meaning the stepping stones of Áine, and the name also appears on Ordnance Survey maps as both 'Cloghaunainy' and, in the 1840 edition, simply 'Stepping Stones'. That dual labelling is itself a small clue to the bridge's significance: it sat at a transitional point in the engineering history of river crossings, somewhere between loose stepping stones and a true bridge.

A clapper bridge, from the Latin claperium meaning a pile of stones, works on a straightforward principle: flat slabs of stone are laid horizontally across low supports, with the weight of the flags holding them against the current rather than any mortar or joinery. Writing in 1917, the antiquarian Crawford noted that the Knockainey example illustrated this logic in unusually clear terms. The flagstones were between 12 and 14 inches thick, and the largest measured 8 feet 3 inches in length by 6 feet 3 inches in breadth. About 120 yards downstream, a shallow ford served vehicles, with three large stones set upright in a line to mark the safe crossing line during floods. The bridge was attributed in local tradition to Áine, said to be the daughter of an early Munster king, and the surrounding parish and nearby hill both carry her name; locals pointed out what they believed were the impressions of her footsteps on the stones. O'Keeffe and Simington, writing in 1991, noted that the structure may have been rebuilt and improved over the centuries, but considered it typical of Ireland's first generation of stone bridge construction.

The bridge itself was bypassed by a small reinforced concrete bridge in 1924 and removed during drainage works in 1931, so there is no complete structure to visit. A photograph taken in 1924, reproduced in O'Keeffe and Simington's study, records the construction details while it was still standing. What remains at the river's edge on the north-eastern side of the village is fragmentary, a few stones visible above the waterline depending on conditions. The site is nonetheless worth seeking out for anyone already in the area, particularly alongside the Ordnance Survey map annotations, which tell their own quiet story about how a piece of ancient engineering was gradually forgotten into a footnote.