Regarded as one of the most agile centres of his generation, match reports from the period show he gained a reputation for rigorous tackling and accurate kicking, scoring a drop goal for Ireland against England at the Athletic Ground, Richmond in 1900.

[2] Selected as a schoolboy international in 1899,[3] the school "showed its gratification by meeting him at the College gates, and he was carried shoulder high to the main entrance amid a scene of wild excitement and enthusiasm".

[4] The speed and agility of his play is suggested by an Irish Times report on an Ulster inter-provincial match: "Allison... dodged in and out through the Munster backs till at the crucial moment he served Barr".

The contributions of the old and the new proved potent enough to resist the demands that England put on it at Lansdowne Road, where Ireland won by a try, scored by Louis Magee's half-back partner G. G. Allen, and a penalty goal.

He finished his career having played in twelve Tests, with his final international coming against Scotland in February 1903, although he continued to be named as a substitute in 1904.

[12] An obituary in the Irish Times stated that "The deceased was one of the youngest three-quarters that ever played for Ireland… He was always an exceedingly clever and resourceful player, and for one of his comparatively light and diminutive stature, wonderfully plucky.