Young first played Gaelic football and hurling as a schoolboy at St. Joseph's CBS in Fairview.
He simultaneously progressed to adult level with the St. Vincent's club as a dual player and won Dublin SHC medals in 1954 before completing a SHC-SFC double in 1954.
As a Gaelic footballer, Young won six consecutive Connacht SFC medals.
[3] Born in Donnycarney, Young enlisted in the Defence Forces as a member of 27 Cadet Class and was commissioned into the Infantry Corps in 1954.
He spent his early years with An Chéad Cath in Galway, before later serving in a variety of appointments throughout the Defence Forces.