That uncertainty is itself the most striking thing about it. When a researcher visited the site in 2019, the cross could not be found at all, leaving open the question of whether it had been moved, buried deeper, or simply absorbed back into the quiet disorder of an old graveyard.

The cross was described by Higgins in 1987 as a thin, plain cruciform stone, undecorated and modest in scale, measuring just 0.56 metres in height with a nearly semicircular top, short stubby arms, and a narrow shaft that widens slightly toward the base. At only five centimetres thick, it is more of a slab than a pillar. Cruciform grave markers of this type are found across the west of Ireland, typically cut from local stone with little ornamentation, their plainness reflecting either the materials at hand or a deliberate austerity. Notably, the cross was already in a secondary position when recorded, meaning it had at some earlier point been moved from its original location and set loosely in the ground rather than firmly bedded. That looseness may partly explain why it proved so difficult to find decades later.

For anyone visiting Kilcloony, the burial ground itself remains the frame of reference, but the cross, if it survives, would be easy to overlook even in the best conditions. A stone barely half a metre tall, lying loose among graves, could be leaning against a wall, face-down in the grass, or obscured by vegetation. It is the kind of object that rewards patience and low expectations in equal measure.