He began playing Gaelic football with his local club Éire Óg and was a member of the Cork senior inter-county team since 2006[1] until announcing his retirement in October 2016.
[2] Born in Ovens, County Cork, Goulding was educated at the local national school before later attending Coláiste Choilm in nearby Ballincollig.
[3] Goulding later studied structural engineering at the Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and qualified with a first class honours degree in 2008.
He subsequently received funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to research in the area of renewable energy and has completing his PhD on a part-time basis while working for Bord Gáis.
A 1–16 to 1–10 defeat of Dublin Institute of Technology, with Goulding top scoring with nine points, gave him a Sigerson Cup winners' medal.
He was captain of the 2020 Cork Senior A Football Championship winning team when Éire Óg overcame Mallow in the delayed final due to the Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Gaelic games played in June 2021.
Goulding first played for Cork as a member of the county's minor team in 2003/2004, however, he enjoyed little success in this grade as Kerry dominated the provincial series at the time.
In 2006 Goulding made his senior debut for Cork when he came on as a substitute and scored a goal in a National Football League game against Offaly.
Later that year he made his championship debut against Limerick but did not plays any part in Cork's Munster final victory over Kerry.
Age-old rivals Kerry were the opponents in the first all-Munster All-Ireland final and although Goulding didn't start the game, he came on as a substitute.
[10] In 2008 Goulding became a regular member of Cork's starting fifteen as 'the Rebels' gained a modicum of revenge on Kerry when the sides met in that year's Munster final.
Both sides met again in the All-Ireland semi-final, however, after a thrilling draw and a replay Kerry were the team that advanced to the championship decider.
The Kerry team stuck to their game plan, helped in no small part by a Cork side that recorded fourteen wides.