He played hurling with his local club Blackrock and was a member of the Cork senior inter-county team from 1974 until 1983.
O'Donoghue first came to prominence as a member of the hugely successful Blackrock minor team of the late sixties.
A subsequent two-point defeat of Newmarket-on-Fergus in the provincial decider gave O'Donoghue a first Munster medal.
Superb late goals by Donie Collins and O'Donoghue secured a 3–8 to 1–9 victory and a first All-Ireland medal.
Once again the Rockies stormed through the provincial championship and defeated Newmarket-on-Fergus by two goals, giving O'Donoghue a third Munster medal.
Ray Cummins scored two goals in rapid succession in the opening thirty minutes to put Blackrock in the driving seat.
He came on as a substitute in the All-Ireland final of 1976 as the team battled back from being eight points down to secure a 2–21 to 4–11 defeat of Wexford.
Two years later in 1978 O'Donoghue was introduced as a substitute in Cork's narrow 0–13 to 0–11 win over Clare in the provincial decider.
Cork were never really troubled over the course of the seventy minutes and a Jimmy Barry-Murphy goal helped the team to a 1–15 to 2–8 victory over their age-old rivals.
O'Donoghue remained on the fringes once again, however, he collected his second Munster medal on the field of play after coming on as a substitute in Cork's 5–31 to 3–6 drubbing of Waterford.
The subsequent All-Ireland final pitted Cork against Kilkenny, with 'the Rebels' installed as the red-hot favourites.
O'Donoghue was sprung from the bench again, however, Christy Heffernan was the hero of the day as he scored two goals in a forty-second spell just before half-time.
Once again Kilkenny dominated the game, assisted by a strong wind in the first-half, and hung on in the face of a great fight-back by Cork.
The team stormed to the Railway Cup title following a 5–13 to 1–8 rout of Ulster and a ten-point win over fierce rivals Leinster.
Partial Reference: Cork GAA website Inter-County SHC Results and Teams.