It is rectangular in plan, measuring roughly 0.7 metres by 0.5 metres at its base, with its long axis running east to west. That orientation is quietly notable: many Irish standing stones align along an east-west or north-south axis, and while the reasons remain debated, the consistency across sites suggests deliberate placement rather than convenience.

Standing stones, sometimes called galláin in Irish, are among the most common yet least understood monument types in the Irish landscape. They date broadly to the Bronze Age, though some may be earlier or later, and their original purposes are thought to have ranged from territorial markers to burial indicators to astronomical alignments. The stone at Inchinaneave leaves no obvious clue as to which of these purposes it served. It sits alone in working farmland, unaccompanied by visible earthworks or ancillary features, which is itself typical of the type. Its relatively modest height and plain form are equally unremarkable by the standards of the genre, yet that ordinariness is part of what makes it worth attention: thousands of years of agricultural activity, land clearance, and development have removed the majority of such stones from the Irish countryside, and the ones that remain do so largely through a combination of local respect and sheer inconvenience.