[1][2][3] Born in San Francisco, Culloty played soccer, basketball and baseball while attending McAteer High School, before being introduced to Gaelic football by his father.
He first appeared for the local Shannon Rangers senior team at the age of fifteen and won a number of championship medals.
After returning to Ireland, Culloty joined the Newmarket club and was later included on the Duhallow divisional team.
Culloty made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of nineteen when he was selected for the under-21 minor team.
[citation needed] After being chosen on the Munster inter-provincial team for the first time in 1987, Culloty was a regular on the starting fifteen for a number of years.