He played underage and junior club rugby with Kilkenny RFC.
Dowling played 27 times in the Heineken Cup for Munster, scoring 5 tries.
Dowling won his first cap with the Irish International Rugby Union Team on their 2009 summer tour of North America when he lined out against Canada on 23 May 2009.
Dowling announced in April 2011 that he was retiring from rugby, due to a hip injury, after medical consultation.
[citation needed] Dowling is a qualified physiotherapist by trade.