[1] Cooney joined the Carrigaline club at a young age and played in all grades at juvenile and underage levels.
[citation needed] On 8 September 1974, Cooney was captain of the Carrigaline junior team that defeated Tracton by 3-10 to 2-06 in the South East Championship final.
He was an unused substitute throughout the championship campaign which eventually ended with Cork being beaten by Tipperary in the Munster semi-final.
Cooney subsequently joined the Cork junior hurling team and made his first appearance on 15 May 1955 in a 4-10 to 6-02 Munster quarter-final defeat of Tipperary.
[2] Over the following few seasons Cooney was a regular member of the Cork junior team and won a second Munster Championship medal in 1958 after a 6-09 to 3-05 defeat of Waterford in the final.