Born in Dublin, Byrne first played competitive hurling after his family moved to Thurles, County Tipperary.
In a club career that spanned more than twenty years, he won fourteen county senior championship medals.
Byrne retired from club hurling at the age of forty-two following a defeat of Carrick Davins in the 1965 county final.
The Emergency resulted in Byrne never playing in the minor grade for Tipperary, however, he joined the senior panel during the 1945 championship.
Having been chosen as a substitute on the Munster interprovincial panel in 1955, Byrne began a three-year association with the team.
[citation needed] Byrne first came to prominence on the inter-county scene as a member of the Tipperary minor team that lost the 1941 Munster final to Cork.
He later joined the county senior team and was a non-playing substitute when Tipp won both Munster and All-Ireland honours in 1945.
Four years later in 1949, Byrne was a full member of the team as he won his first National Hurling League medal before later winning a first Munster title.
1951 saw Byrne add a third Munster medal to his collection as Tipp qualified for a third consecutive All-Ireland final appearance.