It is easy to walk past without registering what it is. Four upright stones, each standing between roughly half a metre and sixty centimetres high, are arranged radially outwards from a central point, delimiting a roughly circular area about three metres across. This type of monument, known as a radial-stone cairn, uses the outward-pointing stones to define the perimeter of what was likely a low mound of earth or loose material, much of which may no longer survive. Four loose slabs lying nearby may be remnants of that original fabric.

Radial-stone cairns are a relatively rare monument type in Ireland, concentrated largely in the south-west, and their precise function remains a matter of some discussion among archaeologists. They are generally considered to be Bronze Age in date, and are often found in association with other prehistoric ritual or funerary monuments in the landscape. The Dooneens example is a case in point. Immediately to the north-west sits a three-stone row, a short alignment of standing stones that constitutes its own distinct monument type. The pairing of the two suggests deliberate placement within a shared ceremonial landscape, and the hillside setting, with its open aspect across the river valley below, would have been as legible a location in the Bronze Age as it is now. The site was catalogued by Seán Ó Nualláin in 1984, as part of his systematic work documenting stone rows and related monuments across Cork and Kerry.