"Lisheen" is a diminutive of the Irish "lios", a common word for a ringfort, suggesting that local memory of the site's character has persisted long after its original function was forgotten.

The ringfort measures 38 metres in diameter and survives in fair condition. Its structure follows a pattern typical of early medieval Ireland, roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries, when ringforts served as enclosed farmsteads for individual families or small communities. A ringfort of this type is defined by a raised inner bank and a fosse, the depression or ditch that runs between the inner and any outer defences, with traces of a second, outer bank still visible to the south. A gap four metres wide on the south-east side, together with a causeway crossing the fosse at the same point, appear to be original features rather than later damage, suggesting this was the intended entrance. A field wall that curves from the north around to the east-south-east may follow, and possibly overlie, the line of that outer bank, meaning later agricultural activity has quietly borrowed the fort's own geometry. The site also has an associated cist burial grave nearby, placing it within a broader pattern of activity in the area, and sits roughly 250 metres south-east of a second ringfort, a proximity that hints at a once-dense settlement of this part of the Galway countryside.