Hurley first played Gaelic football for Cork as full-forward on the minor team during the unsuccessful 1954 Munster MFC campaign.
[1] A year later, he was part of the St Finbarr's team that won the Cork SHC title after beating Glen Rovers in the final.
[2] Hurley added a Cork SFC medal to his collection in 1956, while he also had the distinction of winning a Dublin SFC title with Erin's Hope the same year, as his teacher-training studies in the capital made him eligible to play with the club.
He won a second Cork SFC title that year, before claiming a third winners' medal as team captain in 1959.
[7] Hurley spent his entire working life as a teacher at the North Monastery Primary School in Cork.