His league and championship career with the Cork senior team spanned thirteen seasons from 1919 until 1931.

His father as well as several of his paternal and maternal uncles all won All-Ireland medals with Cork in the early years of the championship.

Coughlan first played competitive hurling with the Blackrock club, making his senior debut in 1918.

After impressing on the club scene, Coughlan came to prominence at inter-county level at the age of nineteen when he was added to the Cork senior panel in 1919.

After being chosen on the Munster inter-provincial team for the first time in 1928, Coughlan was an automatic choice on the starting fifteen for a number of years until 1932.

In 1985 he was the recipient of the GAA's All-Time All-Star Award, while he was posthumously named in the right wing-forward position on the Cork Hurling Team of the Century in 2000.

Coughlan's father, Pat, was the eldest of the family and won back-to-back All-Ireland titles in 1893 and 1894.

As a youngster he rowed a boat on the River Lee, picked mussels and prepared them for dispatch to Liverpool.

Coughlan added two more county victories to his collection in 1924 and 1925, however, St. Finbarr's caught Blackrock in the final of 1926.

Later that same year he was a non-playing substitute on the Cork team that defeated Dublin to win the All-Ireland final.

The following year Coughlan was still a member of the substitute's bench when Cork won the Munster title.

The second game was a much tighter affair with both sides finishing level on a score line of 4–1 to 3–4.

The third game was also a close affair, however, Cork pulled through to win by 3–6 to 2–4, giving Coughlan his first Munster title on the field of play.

The subsequent All-Ireland final pitted Cork against Kilkenny at a snow-covered Croke Park in October of that year.

That game ended in a draw, however, in the replay Cork triumphed with Coughlan collecting his third consecutive Munster title.

The subsequent All-Ireland final was a replay of the previous year's game as Cork played Galway once again.

That year he won a second National League title, however, Cork surrendered their provincial crown later that summer.

The team bounced back in 1931 with Coughlan, who was still the captain of the side, collecting a fifth Munster winners' medal.

After this game officials pressed for extra time, however, Coughlan, as Cork captain, rejected this.

It was also suggested at a meeting of the GAA's Central Council that both counties be declared joint champions and that half an All-Ireland medal by given to each player.

Coughlan, although in line to retain the captaincy, retired from inter-county hurling in protest at the relatively young age of 31.

At the 1984 All-Ireland Hurling Final he received a great welcome when he was presented to the crowd during the celebrations to mark the centenary of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

At the time Coughlan, who was in his 85th year, was the oldest-living captain of an All-Ireland-winning senior hurling team.

Just before the game he was presented to the crowd along with such hurling greats as Jack Lynch, Eddie Keher and Jimmy Doyle.