He represented the school by coming into an All-Ireland Vocational Schools Championship Final with Cork vs Galway Coleman joined the Ballinhassig club at a young age and played in all grades at juvenile and underage levels, winning three successive divisional championship titles in the minor grade between 1998 and 2000.In 1998 they got to the Minor A County Final losing out to Erin's Own 1-12 to 1-05.
[4] Coleman joined the Cork minor hurling team in 2001, making his first appearance in a 1-15 to 0-07 Munster Championship quarter-final defeat of Waterford.
[8] On 7 January 2003, Coleman made his first appearance for the Cork senior hurling team as goalkeeper in a 4-12 to 1-07 defeat of Blackrock in a challenge match at Páirc Uí Rinn.
[11] On 11 September 2005, Coleman won a second successive All-Ireland medal as a non-playing substitute after Cork defeated Galway in the final.
[13] On 19 July 2008, Coleman made his championship debut for Cork when he came on as a substitute for the red-carded Donal Óg Cusack in an All-Ireland qualifier against Galway.
[14] In spite of Coleman being overlooked in favour of Anthony Nash as a late substitute for Donal Óg Cusack in the National League semi-final against Tipperary, he was named as first-choice goalkeeper for the subsequent final against Kilkenny.
[15][16][17] Coleman had a disappointing game in which he was caught out for an early goal, failed to rise the sliotar properly when taking a free, before making a couple of nervy saves in a 3-21 to 0-16 defeat.