Coffey was educated at Coláiste an Phiarsaigh and first played competitive football with the Bishopstown club at juvenile and underage levels before eventually joining the senior team.
[citation needed] Coffey made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he was selected for the Cork minor team.
He enjoyed two championship seasons with the minor team, culminating with the winning of a Munster medal in 1983.
Coffey simultaneously joined the Cork under-21 team and won three successive All-Ireland medals between 1984 and 1986.
Over the course of the next twelve seasons, Coffey won two All-Ireland medals as part of back-to-back triumphs in 1989 and 1990.