It is lozenge-shaped, meaning its cross-section is more diamond than square, and it stands just under two metres tall while measuring roughly 85 centimetres by 40 centimetres at its widest point. That combination of slender height and angular profile gives it a presence that a blunt pillar stone would not. It is oriented along a northeast-southwest axis, a alignment that appears with some regularity among prehistoric standing stones across Ireland and Britain, though whether that reflects astronomical intent, territorial marking, or something else entirely remains a matter of ongoing discussion among archaeologists.

The stone was recorded by O'Brien in 1970 and later included in the Archaeological Inventory of County Cork, the first volume of which covered west Cork. Standing stones of this kind are generally understood to date from the Bronze Age, roughly 2500 to 500 BC, though precise dating for individual unexcavated examples is difficult without associated finds or radiocarbon evidence. They occur across the Irish landscape in considerable numbers, sometimes in isolation, sometimes near other monuments such as stone circles or burial cairns, and their original purpose, whether ceremonial, funerary, or simply a form of landscape marking, is rarely certain. What can be said of the Coulagh stone is that it sits in ground with open views in every direction, a quality that suggests, at the very least, that whoever placed it here chose the spot with some deliberate attention to the surrounding landscape.