As a member of the Munster inter-provincial team on a number of occasions, Carey won several Railway Cup medals as a non-playing substitute.
He was just out of the minor grade when the club qualified for the 1951 senior decider, which was delayed until the following year A three-point victory gave Carey a championship medal.
Liam Devaney, Donie Nealon and Larry Keane all scored goals for Tipperary in the first-half, while Tony Wall sent a seventy-yard free untouched to the Galway net.
[8] Carey won his first National League medal in 1959 following a 0–15 to 0–7 defeat of Waterford, however, Tipperary subsequently surrendered their provincial and All-Ireland crowns.
A certain amount of over-confidence was obvious in the Tipperary camp, particularly in trainer Phil Purcell's comment that no player was capable of marking star forward Jimmy Doyle.
When the crowd were finally moved off the pitch Tipperary continued playing with only twelve men, but Wexford won on a score line of 2–15 to 0–11.
The absence of the All-Ireland semi-final allowed Tipperary to advance directly to the final itself, with Dublin's first native hurling team providing the opposition on 3 September 1961.
[10] Tipperary's nemesis of two years earlier, Wexford, waited in Croke Park to test them once again in the subsequent All-Ireland final on 2 September 1962.
After losing the following year's Munster final to Waterford in one of the hurling shocks of the decade, Tipperary bounced back in 1964 with Carey collecting a fourth National League medal.
Tipperary later cantered casually past Cork by fourteen points in the provincial decider, giving Carey a fifth Munster medal.
John "Mackey" McKenna scored Tipp's first goal after ten minutes as the Munster champions took a 1–8 to 0–6 interval lead.
Tipperary demolished all opposition in the provincial championship once again and a 4–11 to 0–5 trouncing of Cork gave Carey a sixth Munster medal.
After surrendering their provincial crown in 1966, Tipperary bounced back the following year, with Carey winning a seventh Munster medal following a 4–12 to 2–6 defeat of Clare.
Carey was once again dropped from the starting fifteen in 1963, however, he won a fourth Railway Cup medal as a non-playing sub as Munster narrowly defeated Leinster in a replay.
After a on-year absence Carey was added to the starting fifteen again in 1965, however, in a similar pattern to previous years Munster were heavily defeated by Leinster.