To walk between them is to follow a corridor that has existed since the Neolithic period, yet most people who pass through this part of Limerick have no idea it is there. The banks are modest things, each around 9 metres wide and only half a metre in height, but their scale and deliberate geometry mark them out as something intentional and ancient.

This kind of monument is known as a cursus, a term borrowed from Roman Latin meaning a running track, applied by early antiquarians who mistook similar English examples for racecourses. In reality, cursus monuments are thought to be Neolithic processional or ritual enclosures, their exact function still debated, though their alignment and relationship to burial sites suggest a ceremonial purpose tied to movement and the dead. At Knockainy, the monument was formally described in 2004 by researchers Condit and Coyne, who noted that the upper end of the cursus runs directly into a cluster of five contiguous ring-barrows, the circular earthen burial mounds that sit on the summit of the hill. There is no surviving terminal bank at the south-western end, where the structure simply fades near the crest. Condit and Coyne also observed that as one moves up the cursus towards the summit, the sightline opens directly to the south-west, towards the Paps of Anu, the twin-peaked hills in Kerry long associated with the goddess Anu in Irish mythology. Whether that alignment was intentional is unproven, but it is difficult to ignore. The monument was first recorded on oblique aerial photographs taken in July 1968 as part of the Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography, and further images were taken by the Archaeological Survey of Ireland in 2002 and 2003.

The cursus is most legible from the air, which is how it was discovered, but the low banks are visible on the ground to an attentive eye, particularly in raking light or when vegetation is short after grazing. The monument sits on the northern side of Knockainy Hill, which lies in the townland of Knockainy West. The ring-barrows at the summit provide a clearer visual anchor for anyone approaching on foot. As with many sites of this kind, there is no formal access infrastructure, so visitors should consult the relevant landowner and check current access arrangements before heading out.