It is not tall by the standards of Irish standing stones, some of which reach several metres, but its modest proportions are part of what makes it worth attention. The base is roughly rectangular, measuring just over a metre along its longer axis and orientated northeast to southwest, a alignment that may or may not be deliberate but is the kind of detail that tends to nag at those who study these monuments.

Standing stones are among the most common prehistoric monuments in Ireland, yet among the least understood. They were erected during the Bronze Age in most cases, though some may be earlier or later, and their purposes remain genuinely uncertain. Some marked boundaries or routeways, others appear to be associated with burials, and a number seem oriented towards solar or lunar events. The stone at Doory was recorded as part of a comprehensive survey of the Iveragh Peninsula compiled by A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan and published by Cork University Press in 1996, a volume that catalogued hundreds of monuments across this archaeologically dense corner of Kerry. The stone sits roughly 430 metres northeast of another recorded monument, a spatial relationship that may be coincidental or may reflect a now-lost pattern of use across the landscape.