What remains visible today is modest; a low earthen bank, barely 40 centimetres high, curves from northeast to southeast through the heavily vegetated pasture land. The site has become so overgrown that much of the area is now inaccessible, making it difficult to identify any other structural remains that might still exist beneath the tangle of vegetation.

The exact location of the castle has been a matter of some local debate. Writing in 1934, Bowman suggested that Egmont House, which stands about 75 metres west across the river, was actually built on the original castle site. However, local oral tradition tells a different story; according to information gathered by Healy in 1988, residents believe the road running between the river and Egmont House marks the true location where the castle once stood. This uncertainty adds an intriguing layer of mystery to an already elusive historical site.

What is known with more certainty is that this was once a stronghold of the Mac Donagh Mac Carthys, a branch of the powerful MacCarthy dynasty that dominated much of Cork during the medieval period. The Mac Carthys were one of the most influential Gaelic families in Munster, and their various branches controlled numerous castles and territories throughout the region. Today, this particular fortress exists more in historical memory than physical reality, its stones long vanished and its precise location still debated by historians and locals alike.