He played Gaelic football, hurling, and rugby for his native Kanturk, played rugby with Clontarf in Dublin, and competed with the Civil Service, Dublin University, Clonliffe Harriers, and Donore Harriers athletic clubs, affiliated to the AAU at the time of Ireland’s athletics dispute, and competed in the shot put at the 1948 Olympics.
In 1946 he resigned from his post in the civil service after being refused leave to represent Ireland in the European Championships in Oslo and turned to journalism shortly afterwards.
In the early 1970s he moved to the Sunday Mirror as Irish sports editor, while remaining based in Dublin, and wrote a regular column for the Cork Evening Echo.
He was acknowledged as Ireland's foremost authority on the Olympics and published over thirty books on a wide variety of sports, including Gaelic games, rugby, soccer and golf.
He died after a short illness in the Mater Hospital on 14 October 2000, and was cremated after a funeral service in St Mary's Church of Ireland, Howth.