His father, Jim Devaney, was a stalwart of the Borris–Ileigh club and was a member of the Tipperary senior panel that won the All-Ireland title in 1937.
After having his presence requested for trials for the Tipperary minor team in early 1952, Devaney was an automatic choice at right wing-forward for the subsequent championship campaign.
The subsequent All-Ireland series provided little difficulty for Tipperary, with the team scoring 18 goals in their games against Galway and Dublin.
Wexford's preparation for the game was affected by the death of Bob Rackard, father of the legendary brothers Nicky, Bobby and Billy, who had all withdrawn from the match.
In 1958 Devaney won his first Munster medal from the substitutes' bench as Tipperary regained the provincial crown following a 4-12 to 1-5 trouncing of reigning champions Waterford.
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.
[4] Devaney won a third 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 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.
[6] 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 Devaney collecting a sixth National League medal.
Tipperary later cantered casually past Cork by fourteen points in the provincial decider, giving Devaney a fifth Munster medal, albeit from the substitutes' bench.
John "Mackey" McKenna scored Tipperary's first goal after ten minutes as the Munster champions took a 1-8 to 0-6 interval lead.
After surrendering their provincial crown in 1966, Tipperary bounced back the following year, with Devaney winning a seventh Munster medal following a 4-12 to 2-6 defeat of Clare.
3 September 1967 saw Kilkenny face Tipperary in the All-Ireland decider, and Devaney's side looked like continuing their hoodoo over their near rivals as they took a 2-6 to 1-3 lead at half-time.
In spite of this setback, Devaney finished the year with a sixth Oireachtas Cup medal following a narrow 1-9 to 1-6 defeat of Cork, before retiring from inter-county hurling.