The site is a rath, the most common type of ringfort found across Ireland, typically built during the period roughly between the fifth and twelfth centuries as an enclosed homestead for a farming family of some local standing. What marks out this particular example is its slightly irregular shape, measuring approximately 26.8 metres north to south and around 36 metres east to west, suggesting the enclosure was adapted to the lie of the land on its west-facing slope rather than drawn to a perfect circle.

The earthen bank that once defined the perimeter still survives to a height of around 0.9 metres, and the external fosse, a defensive ditch dug outside the bank, remains visible to the south and west, reaching a depth of about 1.2 metres. Together, bank and fosse would have formed a meaningful barrier, less about military defence and more about marking territory, controlling livestock, and projecting the status of whoever lived within. A laneway running east to west has cut across the northern edge of the site at some point, truncating the original enclosure and serving as a reminder of how ordinary agricultural life has quietly eroded these monuments over the centuries. Perhaps the most intriguing detail is a possible souterrain in the interior. A souterrain is an underground stone-lined passage or chamber, usually associated with ringforts and thought to have served for storage, refuge, or both; whether the one at Maulnaskeha is intact, partially collapsed, or simply a depression in the ground that hints at something beneath is not recorded with certainty.