The site at Coolaleen is a rath, the commonest type of Irish ringfort, which typically consisted of one or more circular earthen banks enclosing a domestic settlement, used roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries. This particular example is a bivallate rath, meaning it has two concentric banks rather than the more usual single ring, a feature generally associated with a household of somewhat higher social standing. It sits in level grassland roughly twenty-five metres from the bank of a stream, a positioning that would have made practical sense to whoever built it.

The enclosure measures 34.2 metres north to south and 31.3 metres east to west. Between the two earthen banks runs an intervening fosse, a drainage or defensive ditch, about 1.9 metres wide, and a further external fosse of similar width runs outside the outer bank. The banks themselves are modest survivors: the inner bank rises to about 0.7 metres on its exterior face, while the outer reaches 0.8 metres externally. The record was compiled by Denis Power and uploaded in August 2011. By that point, the structural detail was already compromised by agricultural activity. Farm passages roughly 4.8 metres wide cut through both banks at the south-east and north-west, and additional passages truncate sections running from the south-west round to the north-west, with a further track skirting the enclosure at the north-east. These are not ancient entrances but working farm routes that have progressively sliced through the monument over the years.

Visitors approaching the site should be prepared for something that rewards patience over spectacle. The level interior is under pasture and gives little away. The more revealing features, the intervening fosse between the two banks and the outer bank itself, are largely covered by overgrowth, which can actually help in one respect: the vegetation traces the line of the earthworks more clearly in certain light conditions, particularly in low winter or early morning sun when shadows pick out the subtle humps and hollows. The site is on private farmland, so any visit would require landowner permission. Access on foot is relatively straightforward given the flat terrain, though the network of farm passages crossing the monument can make it initially difficult to read the plan of the enclosure from ground level.